My daughter, Mia Mei, has her own blog. She writes there somewhat regularly. What can I say? They don’t make 4-year olds like they used to.

Yesterday she wrote a post “How to get to car engine, um, Carnegie Hall.”

It got me to thinking about what I have learned from Carnegie that has helped me to be a better blogger.

Andrew Carnegie and the Blogger

Carnegie made a killing in oil and steel after coming to the US at the age of 13 and getting a job as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory for $1.25 week. I used to work for $1.25 an hour, but never that cheaply for a week. But, then at the time, I could buy gasoline for .25/gallon. Let me see…I worked for 5 gallons of gas (more…)

Is there common ground for a Christian blogger, atheism and communism?

Indeed there is. There are not a few atheists who are bloggers. And not a few bloggers living in communist China. Oh, there are Christian bloggers, too. I am unashamedly one of them!

My in-laws were born in China, (made in China I like to say) 75 and 70 years ago. As an infant my father-in-law survived the Rape of Nanking of 1937. Both survived the founding of modern China by Mao Zedong in 1949. And again, my father-in-law survived exile during the Cultural Revolution of the 60′s. That’s a lot of survival!

Yet, there was an even greater attack that both Gong Gong and Poh Poh survived. These two fine people through years of diligent study and self examination (especially my father-in-law) made the decision to forsake their combined experiences of 145 years, and start over. That is, to be born again.

Grandpa Hu and Grandma Sun became Christians, were baptized into the faith on September 11, 2011.

Indeed it is a big deal.

I learned a long time ago to respect the decisions of the aged, the wise, the experienced.

If after 75 years Gong Gong concludes that atheistic science and forced communism come up empty and that only a Creator God can satisfy his intellectual curiosity and his emotional voids, then ought we not all take notice? Indeed we should. I should. I am.

Listen to his testimony for yourself. The translation is a bit rough, but accurate. The translator offered, unprepared, on the spur of the moment to allow English speakers in the audience to listen in to the testimony.

I, a blogger, offer you the opportunity to listen as well. And I invite you to make the same decision my in-laws did.

For 4 months, I wished they would go home. Now, I face the prospect of spending eternity with them. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

I remember now why I don’t have a ‘real’ job. Why I don’t like commuting to and from a work place. Why I love being a professional blogger.

A couple of days ago some knucklehead in a big pickup truck pulled up to a red light. My wife was sitting behind her in her Mini Cooper.

Wilby blogging about BMW and Mini Cooper

It went something like this:

Knucklehead, “This red light is taking too long. Never mind. I’ll just back up, do a K-turn and go back the other way.”

Wife, “Agh!!! Stop. I am behind you!”

MiaMei (my 3-year old), “Mommy!!!”

Gong Gong and Poh Poh (in unison), ” ()&^&*%$^%&#” (That’s what Chinese sounds like when you scream. I think Mia wrote this down as she is learning Chinese from them this summer.

Mini Cooper, “OOOOUUUCCH!!!” Scrunch, scratch, scrape….

Big pickup truck, “Huh?”

So…fast forward to today…I got stuck in morning rush hour traffic while driving to a  BMW – Mini Cooper dealer looking to get a quote.

Bill, “Arrgghh!!! Get out of my way! Delete! Delete!”

See…when blogging, doing research online and such…if things slow down, you just hit the back button on the browser, close out the browser, or go somewhere else.

You can’t do that in real life, on the highway, when stuck in traffic…just hit the delete button or close out the browser…or back up. The pickup truck tried and look that where it got him.

I love walking 15 steps to my home office and blogging.

Tell me again. Why do you blog? And why do you love it?

Yesterday I wrote 4 Lessons Winston Churchill taught me about blogging.

Two points being – I draw inspiration and motivation from great men and women AND the things they say, the lessons they teach can be applied to doing well in blogging also.

Today I share some insights, some nuggets of wisdom from Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt was:

1. statesman

2. writer

3. soldier

4. explorer

5. governer of New York

6. the 26th president, stepping in from his role as Vice President when McKinley was assassinated.

7. a Nobel Peace Prize winner

8. responsible for the creation of our national parks and forests

Wilby and Teddy Roosevelt on blogging

What he said:

1. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes shot again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring valiantly…” If you think this is a bit of an overstatement when applied to the blogger, then you shouldn’t be blogging. A blogger should blog with the same zest for life and energy that Roosevelt applied to his life.

2. “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” Never before has the world been literally within reach of even the most seemingly insignificant blogger. Consider the blog of a 3-year old. In the last couple of days, she has welcomed readers from Japan, Malaysia, China, India, Turkey, Croatia, Spain and all throughout North America. Have you read  5 steps to good self esteem and conquering your fears?

3. “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Bloggers can and do make a difference.

4. “In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” When I blog, I don’t always get things right. I tell my blog classes that I would rather people love me (preferred) or hate me, but don’t be indifferent to me. I will never be accused of inaction.

5. “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well-being, to risk his life, in a great cause.” As a blogger, I WILL put myself out there. I have not nor do I think I will ever ‘shed blood’ as a writer, but I will take risks.

Your turn. Who motivates you? Who inspires you to write, to blog?

I love my little girl, Mia Mei.

She is just two years old going on16. She thinks she is a princess and, well, a dad would think that is the case.

Mia Mei

Poor kid…everywhere I take her, people look at her with sad eyes and say, “That little girl’s dad never takes her anywhere. She is always with her grandfather.

Um, that would be me.

I don’t care one way or the other. She’s golden.

In fact she has her own blog – Mia Mei’s Morsels. If she continues to write faithfully, by the time she goes to college, her blog will be able to pay her tuition.

How cool is that? And to think someone old enough to be her grandfather, um, dad taught her how to do it.

I am a firm believe in bloggers being part of a blog network.

I’d like to share two very concrete and very recent (yesterday) examples.

This is the first.

My daughter has a blog. That is not remarkable except that she is just 2-years old. I created this blog for her just last week and she has a whopping 7 posts. You can read it at MiaMei. In short, it is about something going on in the world and something going on in her life and how she might relate the two. It’s NOT a bunch of pix.  I reckon that when Mia is old enough to write she will have her own web presence that she can use as she likes. But that’s not the point of this post.

MiaMei’s blog got 396 visitors yesterday. And with only 7 posts up and being just 8 days old!

The credit goes in part to the blog network.

Mia wrote, Jesse James cheated and Billy the Kid is my Dad.

Her blog post was linked to at three other sites in my network of blogs. (more…)

A bit off topic…but then, we dad’s can easily be distracted, eh?

In a subsequent post, I will let you know why this really isn’t that much off topic.

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I have discovered the 2 hands-down best tips for someone who wants to either lose weight or maintain their figure.

Tip # 1 -

First is climb up on the couch (or some other object that is about neck high), then jump up and down a dozen times. Climb back down, then up again and down again and up again and down again repeating endlessly or until the 45-minute Veggie Tale program you might be watching ends.

In between the climbing, get down on the floor and roll back and forth and back and forth until you are laughing so hard you feel like you might see dinner again.

Next put a soft object in the middle of the floor that is about waist high (daddy’s do well for this object) call it a mountain and climb back and forth and back and forth across the mountain while carrying as many toys as you can get into two hands. Sorry for hitting you in the face with my golf clubs, daddy.

Then back up on the couch and down again and back up again and down and …..roll and climb and…

Continue reading: 2 hands down best tips to lose weight or keep your figure