Brent P. Newhall's Blog
Misc – Nov 2008

20 Nov 08 – Personal, Take 2

I haven't been able to keep up with this blog this week, due to the new job. Fortunately, it's calming down this week, so I think I'll be able to get back into a more normal blog routine next week.

It's weird, how much mental energy is required when starting a new job. I'm not overwhelmed with work; I'm overwhelmed with new inputs, even when those inputs are "just" peoples' names. All the change is painful.

And I'm someone who keeps telling folks the importance of accepting change. Can't quite take my own medicine, can I?

In any event, that's why I've been incommunicado this week, and hopefully everything will be relatively normal on Monday.

Posted in Misc - Permalink - comments

17 Nov 08 – Personal

A little personal blogging today.

I start my new job today. I'm nervous; Pop Rocks jumped around in my stomach as I drove in. Took longer than I expected, so I got in 10 minutes later than I thought I would. Which increased my nervousness.

But this is a new opportunity. A new adventure. As I heard on Sunday: you fear that which has risk, so fear is a sign that you're risking something. And risk (when it comes from the heart) is almost always good.

So, I'm risking. And excited.

Posted in Misc - Permalink - comments

12 Nov 08 – Planning for a New Job

[IMAGE]

I start my new job next week, supporting a military contract with a combination of training, configuration management, and web design. Or, at least, that's the initial charter, based on my interview.

I face a number of challenges:

  1. I'll have to spend some time figuring out my real charter. Exactly what is expected of me?
  2. I'll have to build relationships with several different clients, each of which will need different things from me. This will involve lots of "people skills," and some penetrating questions about what my clients really need.
  3. I'll be establishing my reputation, so my work will need to be excellent (as it always needs to be, but especially now).
  4. The group I'll be working with is still setting itself up, apparently, so I'll be establishing my work environment. I'll need to set up my computer for web evelopment, which requires a lot of software. Since many offices have strong restrictions on what can be installed on a system, I'll probably have to set up many work-arounds just to build a productive work environment.

Even more problematically: Much of this can't be specifically planned. While I can plan to meet with clients, I won't know who to meet until I get there, nor do I know how to deal with them.

So, while I have a basic plan, I'll need to react quickly while keeping my plan up-to-date.

And all of this must be done while I'm still learning everyone's names, remembering where the bathroom is, etc. And teaching adult ed classes every evening.

I'll be tired, stressed out, and probably cranky once I return home from my classes at night. But it's a fantastic opportunity, and by the end I'll have grown and improved.

And thank goodness for Getting Things Done.

Posted in Misc - Permalink - comments

6 Nov 08 – A Brilliant Design: The AWANA Game Circle

[IMAGE]

So, there's this Christian children's club, called AWANA. When it was founded in the 50's, its creators wanted to include athletic games in each evening's schedule. They wanted to design a system that let the kids have fun, without encouraging cut-throat competition.

So, they designed the AWANA Circle, one of the most ingenious designs I've ever seen.

It's a 40-foot square, within which is a 30-foot circle. Each side of the square is a different color: red, blue, green, and yellow. Diagonal lines (one of each color) cross the square. There's also a six-foot square in the center.

The kids are divided into four teams, one for each color, and they stand just outside the square, on their color line, facing inwards. Most of the games are running games, which involve running around the circle. So, each kid positions himself just outside the circle, next to the diagonal line, and at the starter's whistle, runs around the circle a certain number of times. After the last lap, the runner goes into the middle of the circle, where a bowling pin sits atop a bean bag. Whoever grabs the bowling pin wins first place, and whoever gets the bean bag gets second place.

Okay, seems fine. But think about this:

Because of the four-team design, kids aren't focusing on one opponent. One week, Green wins; another week, Blue wins. Kids can compete without obsessing.

Moreover, choosing colors for team names depersonalizes them a bit. There's no magic in being defeated by Blue Team, compared to being beaten by the Cougars or the Wolverines.

And because there are four teams, in a larger group with several dozen kids, that narrows down each team to a relatively small group. Kids don't get lost and forgotten in a huge team of twenty.

The system also encourages creative game design. One of my favorites is bean bag relay: one kid on each team is in the center of the circle, while eight team-mates line up just outside the circle. The center kid tosses a bean bag at each team-mate, who tosses it back, in sequence. This requires attention and precise muscle control; you can't throw it too hard or too softly. A significant challenge for an eight-year-old.

Another: bean bags are spread around inside the center square, and ten kids on each team line up just outside the circle. Each one is assigned a number. The game leader calls out a number, and that kid (on each team) runs in to grab as many bean bags as possible.

AWANA provides a number of implements, too, like batons, bean bags, and pins. But their simple nature is another important design element: kids aren't collecting anything of intrinsic value; they're not trying to grab candy bar, or win better treatment. It's all just a collection of points. And kids pick up on that. If AWANA kids lose, they're disappointed, but they shrug it off more quickly than other teams I've seen.

Imagine: competitive, physical games that don't encourage ten-year-olds to get hyper or highly competitive. What a design!

Posted in Misc - Permalink - comments