My initial thought was to use the same template as my web site. The magic of open source material is that the universe of cyberspace is Abundant. I have capitalized abundant because that is a key word for our teamwork retreats – BootCamp a.k.a. ResultsCamp. I'm sure I'll get back to that topic later. :)
Since so much valuable material is available in the open source world today I started my search for a new web site template at the open source web templates community; for example: http://www.openwebdesign.org/ or http://www.opendesigns.org/. Having found a number of interesting choices to replace my very mundane looking site, I locked onto a particular template and then the particular designer, Andreas Viklund (http://andreasviklund.com/), in northern Sweden of all places.
Once a programmer, always a programmer, and tired of the web design programs that do it for you but produce constrained and bloated results, I tinkered and plodded my way through HTML land with Andreas's template to produce my current site. Liking the new look very much, it seemed a natural fit to use Andreas's template (yes; Strunk & White's first rule is to add “ 's ”; therefore, “Reeves's” as well) modified for blogs.
But then a whispered message from the Universe: “Lighthouse, Paul... lighthouse.”
My first blogs on flying, started after I soloed, used a lighthouse theme which fit well with our pending move at the time to Nova Scotia.
Further, one of my favourite stories in Covey's Seven Habits of Effective People is the “paradigm-shifting experience as told by Frank Koch in Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute.
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.
Lookout replied, “Steady, captain, “ which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship. We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.”
Back came a signal, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.”
The captain said, “Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees.”
“I'm a seaman second class,” came the reply. “You had better change course 20 degrees.”
By that time, the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send, I'm a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.”
Back came the flashing light, “I'm a lighthouse.”
We changed course.”1
And, my daughter Allison had honoured Vickie and I, after a wonderful visit full of meaningful discussions and insights, with a thank you note, and a window hanging of stained glass, identifying us as her lighthouse illuminating her the way through the whirlwind of life.
The “closer” was that Google had updated the Blog site and templates and there was my old favourite, revamped, and waiting for me.
If you check the Comments, Christophe likes the theme too. (Don't be misled by his scoring – that is the way the Perfection Game works best.) And if Christophe likes it that is good news for me.
It seems pretentious to me that I might shed some light your way too. But that is what this is all about, and you will be the judge.
And I will “get-on-with-it” next time. I already have requests!
1The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey, Franklin Covey Co.
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