08.14.08
Posted in Personal at 9:42 pm by BartonG
Obviously, this blog hasn’t had a lot of love in the last few months. I’ve had a few personal revelations about where I’m taking my life, and I’ve been very busy with what the universe has provided me.
Right now, I’m blogging for www.SuccessGiants.com as well as starting up a Mixed Martial Arts blog, www.slcmma.com. I’m still writing fiction too. Go check out my stuff their for some of my most recent work.
I’m also getting an engineering internship.
So sorry to keep anybody hanging.
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05.27.08
Posted in Personal, Uncategorized at 10:29 pm by BartonG
If you’ve been a frequent visitor to my site, you may have noticed that I’ve been posting less frequently. Thanks for your patience - I’m back. I’ve had a lot of stuff on my plate, but it’s been worth it. I hope to share a lot of neat stuff with you shortly, including:
- A detailed video on how to make ballistics gel.
- More martial arts videos via my developing SLC MMA blog.
- My instructor’s notes from classes I’m teaching at the university (Mixed Martial Arts and Self Defence)
- Hacking Cashcrate.com guide
- Real Estate Investment Analysis
- and more.
I’m getting more involved with the technical aspects of blogging and let me know if my plug-ins don’t work as you’d hope.
- Bart
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03.12.08
Posted in Personal at 2:30 am by BartonG
Things are better than ever for me right now. Below the jump, I’ll let you in on it.
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12.17.07
Posted in Personal, Social at 3:26 am by BartonG
A friend of mine, John, works for a company that manages digital disaster recovery. John is part of the sales team and gives a sales training on Fridays. This weekend he asked me to come along and give my two cents.
I promptly accepted. I didn’t really know what John wanted me to focus on until a few days before the meeting, but I feel that almost all public speaking is great self-development. When John revealed my full topic it got my attention. “Why is gaming girls important and how does it applies to sales?”.
I chose a different title, but I tried to stay true to what he wanted. I had 30 minutes to teach 16 guys about their connection to the feminine, a daunting task for me because when I do teach about it, I normally address the subject over the span of weeks, or at least hours, but not minutes.
I set out to prepare the best I could. If I were to speak for hours, I wouldn’t need much prep time, but if I’m to give a focused 30 minutes presentation, I feel that two weeks wouldn’t be enough. It’s tough to jam every last ounce of meaning into a speech. In a long period of time you can make sure to convey all the angles, but in 30 minutes you can barely scratch the surface unless you craft your speech.
After some consideration, I conceded that I didn’t have the time to laboriously construct something anyway, and relaxed. It wasn’t as if I’d be giving the commencement talk at Yale. Still, I love to teach and present, so I didn’t slack off either.
When the time came, I put down my notes and spoke from the heart. I thought things went well, and afterwards John told me that it was the best training they had, which was a nice thing to say. Who knows? I enjoyed the opportunity and felt good about the whole thing.
If you’re curious, below I’ve put down a combination of some of the notes I used to prepare my presentation and some of what I said at the meeting. Although there is some material missing, I still think you can glean much good from it. If you attended the training and have some questions, by all means ask!
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12.02.07
Posted in Personal at 11:02 pm by BartonG
I’m loving life. I’ve had some hard times the last few weeks, but I’m feeling stronger and revitalized. I’m almost done with this semester at the U of U, and I’m excited for Christmas. It’s snowed a foot or so here, which has made me merry and my wife cry (she’s from southern California). If you see her, don’t rub it in or run swiftly.
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11.19.07
Posted in Abundance, Personal at 9:52 am by BartonG
I was pondering the events of last week. My brother and his wife were anxiously awaiting the birth of their son, his projected due date about a week away. However, the baby died in utero early Wednesday morning, and then was birthed painfully few hours later. It is difficult to illustrate the sadness and details of the circumstances. I have been more affected in my heart by this death than any other in my life. There are many things I wish to say, to cry out, to write … I hope that I can bring light, comfort, and love. I am grateful for the abundance I have already received, as well as that which will shown to me. But what abundance is to come?
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11.13.07
Posted in Personal at 9:45 am by BartonG
The seminar on Saturday was awesome! I learned a lot, partially because I know very little Aikido. This picture accurately describes the day, but replace the hairy guy on the left with me, and change the man on the right to be shorter and Japanese. I was thrown no less than 200 times, and while I wasn’t very good at rolling at the beginning, I am much better now. Better at rolling, not physically better, because I hurt all over.
The class was filled with black-belts and instructors of other dojos, so I was honored to be invited as a neophyte. I look forward to progressing, even if it takes considerable time. By the way, all of the older gentlemen there whipped me like a rented mule, even if it looked like I should be feeding them pudding at the nursing home. My favorite part of the day is when we trained with wooden swords (bokken) and learned the hidden connections behind the empty hand techniques and the blade.
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11.08.07
Posted in Personal at 7:58 pm by BartonG
I study jujitsu under my instructor, Sensei Jorge. He is a strong, personable man, originally from El Salvidor*. He’s a great teacher, and I respect him. I also love the way he talks about his Sensei, Master Hiatu. He has a lot of respect and fondness for his teacher. He’ll often tell us a little bit about him during class. One day, he was telling me about his martial art lineage, and who he learned from, and who they learned from, etc. If you’re into martial arts, you know that the following is a big deal: Master Hiatu received his black-belt directly under Aikido founder, Ueshiba Morihei.
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10.23.07
Posted in Personal, Social at 6:48 pm by BartonG
Warning: Do not read this post if you are my wife. It contains sensitive information that will again reveal what a scoundrel I was (and still am). You know I am a pig. No need to rub it in. And no, this is not about losing my virginity.
I was reflecting on life before marriage and remembered a grand anecdote. Grand? Yea, awesome. Huge. Beautiful. Monolithic*. At the time, it was like a heavy bout of airplane turbulence that causes items in your suitcase to dramatically be arranged differently. It’s strange that I haven’t told anybody about it yet.
Fade in. It’s December 1999. Read the rest of this entry »
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09.27.07
Posted in Personal, Social at 9:31 am by BartonG
I’ve been asked, “How can you be mormon and a PUA?”. For those who don’t know, a “mormon” is someone who belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the lds church. “PUA”, is an acronym of ‘pick up artist’ or ‘pick up arts’ - someone who is involved with meeting and attracting women. It’s been interesting mix, as they are a huge part of who I am. In a way, outside of the influence my immediate family, they’ve defined who I am more than anything else.
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