Terminalcoffee discussion

Are you guys talkers? I know we're all lovers of books, and even quite a few writers here, but do you find yourself rattling off various thoughts about the whirling ideas in your head? Do you have significant others that, seeing a certain topic coming up, rolls their eyes and braces for a flash flood?

I'm just curious if reading/writing = talking. Is it about anything or just certain topics or groups? What topics just set the river A-flowin' for you?

Believe it or not, in most groups I am quiet and almost shy. But put with the right kind of group & put in interesting topics, or interesting people who I love to study - I find people's perceptions so incredibly fascinating compared to mine - and I just am a rambler. (In case none of you noticed) LTFB thinks if he tied my hands behind my back I'd strangle.

So... give it up y'all.

i am a talker. that is why i joined this group, to communicate. when there is something i am passionate about i really can talk. like books, baseball, my kids, people, world culture, and things that really matter. (not in that order necessarily) i do like to read and become introverted sometimes and i think that is a mechanism to relax and reboot. as for my driving my wife crazy, mostly only it seems when i talk about my current tough read (i always keep an easy read and a tough read) which i quote and read to her out of context often. currently i am reading Outliers which is great but just throwing a sentence or two out there every couple of hours would drive anyone crazy i think.

This is an interesting question. I used to be very, very shy...until I was about eighteen or so. Now I'm much more of a verbal processor, esp. at work. I find it very hard to sit in a meeting and not talk through the issues...I need to process content verbally in those scenarios.

I'm not good in groups unless I know everyone well (e.g. at work). I'll try to snag you and have our own conversation sort of on the side. You're warned.

I love goodreads because (among other things) we talk about books here. Not many of my non-net friends read a lot, and even when they do, they don't read much of what I read. So thanks, people.

I used to be incredibly shy too. I'm much more willing to interact to a somewhat normal extent now, but I'm not super talkative except in certain situations; when the conversation is about dogs or animal behavior/psychology in general, when I'm talking to one of my sisters or a very close friend with whom I haven't spoken in a while or when I've been drinking. But when I write... I write a LOT. Even over text message. Everyone I communicate with over text message pretty much knows that if they get a text from me they should wait a couple minutes before trying to read it, because there are probably a couple more coming. THAT... is why Goodreads and forums in general are so good for me :)

Verbosity is the spice of life ... er, uh ... oh never mind. I talk too much.

Oh, and Danielle - welcome to the smartest place in cyberspace. I'm into Skinnerian behaviorism, myself. So anytime you want to talk about that ....

[image error]

Oh, and I'm originally from the Albany area.

When I know someone I can talk for hours on various subjects, if I don't know anyone I can be as quiet as a church mouse, hopefully not Larry's mouse above.

Larry, where are you from? Are you INTO Skinnerian behaviorism as in it applies to your career, or is it just something you're interested in?

I've studied it for several years. Worked as a consultant to businesses applying the principles to the performance of people in the workplace. And I'm interested in it. I have a graduate level certificate from University of North Texas in it.

I grew up about 10 miles south of Albany in the Ravena/Selkirk area.

Larry, my wife grew up in Rochester, NY...I've spent a lot of time in western NY, around Jamestown, the last fifteen years or so...

That's a great cartoon, Larry. So, do you go around to clients and make them read the book Who Moved My Cheese?? I was more of a Jungian groupie instead of Skinner, but I always thought the experiments were interesting - especially when they applied to the human mouse.

LOL Kevin, I totally thought you wrote: like boobs, baseball, my kids

I thought, well yea! I can talk about boobs for hours.

Who Moved My Cheese it pretty lame, actually. And by the way, one cannot make anyone read a book, I've discovered. No, I've used a systematic, data-oriented method for maximizing performance using feedback and positive reinforcement systems.

I can (and often do) think about boobs for hours. :)

RA -- I used to operate trains between Albany and Buffalo. In another life, that is. No, really, I did.

That's kind of cool, Larry...

(the train thing, I mean)

Yeah it was fun in a way -- except between 1 AM and 6 AM when you have to fight to stay awake because you have no normal sleep patterns. I was always exhausted. And it gets boring going back and forth day after day.

Yeah, I can imagine. Every time I'm in a cab I think driving a cab might be kind of fun. For two days. Then I'd probably hate it.

I hope at least you got to wear a cool engineer hat.

No hat. Those are for train nerds.

Train nerds. LOLOLOL That's funny.

sherrie - you are a hoot. books sherrie, books

Train nerds:

Yeah, Charly. But you can't make them get anything out of a book, or make them do anything any different than they always have.

I am so sick and tired of dealing with people who seem to be beyond learning anything new!

Well it is easier to learn something that you are interested in. Some people never want to learn anything new, others want to learn everything that they get their hands on, some learn from reading, some from doing, others from observing. Maybe the method of teaching isn't working or maybe the people aren't interested in the topic. However if they are being paid to learn, you would certainly think that the incentive(not interest) would be there, if not if may be time for a change.

i don't have any apparent capacity to learn anything i am not interested in. i agree with jim

Organizational change is tricky. Yup.

i fear change

Yup, but I might add one of the biggest pleasures in my life learning stuff. And isn't that what school should really instill, a love of learning that lasts a whole life long?

But you will never catch me researching or reading about anything that doesn't interest me. Unless, of course it's work related. Then that becomes a responsibility. Don't ya wish everyone could have a job where learning what you need to is what you would want to learn anyway? In my ideal world...

I agree Lori, a school should instill a love for learning, however what happens when they get home. It appears that sometimes when they walk out the door that desire gets knocked right out of them for what ever reason. It would be nice if a siren would go off alerting people to this, so it could be corrected, but sadly it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

I love learning too, and you can go through almost any thread here and probably learn something, that's what makes this place so appealing to me.

Thanks everybody for being you and bringing that to TC.

Aaawww, Jim you are sweet. And I agree as well.

I have always had the love of learning. When I went to college & was trying to figure out "what I want to be when I group up" (still figuring that out), I met this great guy in a creative writing class who had retired to become a career student. I thought that would be the perfect career, except it doesn't pay anything.

Kevin, repeat after me... Change is GOOD.

I love those train nerds, but where are their hats? Dang posers.

i took a World Culture / Worldview class at a University near here a few years back and i had a tough time getting back into a classroom learning mode even though it was something i was very interested in. different when you are actually accountable for what you are learning and just reading a book for the heck of it

I couldn't find a picture of nerds with hats.

Heh, yeah I bet it is. Some of my friends have gone back to school, interestingly most of them to be a nurse, and while they were there always studying I was horrified at how my mind just shrank from the idea of that. And then I too considered going back to school to get a librarian degree, but as soon as I stared in the mirror of my soul, I recognized I had no desire to study and write papers and just be in academia for awhile. Heck I didn't even want to go through the rigamoroll of sending off for my previous transcripts. Sad but true.

repeat the mantra? change is good. change is good.

yeah Lori, i like just being a wealth of useless information

Welcome to the male world Kevin its seems like useless information is what we excel at.

Change can be good, but change just for the sake of change can just be disruptive.

No, Kevin. You were right before. Change is not always good.

i am a trivial pursuit god in my sphere of influence

You should watch cash cab on the Discovery Channel, you would probably excel at it.

That's a great show!

Yeah, but it would seem weird without Ben Bailey, some of the looks he gives are priceless.

Change can be good, but change just for the sake of change can just be disruptive.

But that's the whole point guys. Change, uh CHANGES you... but if you allow it to and help guide it, it brings you to a whole new level. It's just that it's painful sometimes. Diamond in the rough, I'm tellin' ya.

Guiding senior execs along that path to better ways to see and do things is often more painful for the ones trying to do the guiding. Personal experience, here. A real challenge to my educational abilities!

I hear ya Larry. I often hit my head against that brick wall with my Dad (I did some office/techie work in his biz for a while). If someone really, truly does not want to change and is incapable of seeing how it could improve their life - it ain't happening. Until their refusal to change amidst the constant change around them causes their world to fall flat. People like this will not be spurred on unless they've hit the bottom of the barrel... and even then. I couldn't do that for a living.

Ooh, I love talking about organizational change. I've worked within that field for a long time. Got my ass burnt, too...I don't know anyone interested in real organizational change who doesn't get an ass-burnin' every now and then. If anything will cause you to lose your mind and/or dig deep to find calm and meaning, it's organizational change. I'm leading a program revision right now...it's going pretty well, but not perfectly...I learned a couple things from previous organizational changes in which I've been involved...and I drink sometimes.

By the way, I always keep beer in my office fridge, but that's more for show.

yeah sherrie - diamond in the rough. i keep telling people i am a lump of coal and with about 20,000 more years of intense pressure from my wife i will be a shiny object :)

i keep telling people i am a lump of coal and with about 20,000 more years of intense pressure from my wife i will be a shiny object

I like that Kevin may I borrow it?

"and I drink sometimes" LOL Oh RA, how could you not?

Kev, that is precisely why guys get married, so we women can artfully put enough stress on you to force that diamond out. Then we can wear you around on our little finger. Only, we try to squeeze 20,000 years into about 30. (I don't think Jared is around for this confession, so don't tell him, kay?)

by the way - i did a SWAG on the 30k years. no scientific background on that one. i thought i had better admit that with this group as someone is going to google it and add a link to a geology site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond#...

No mention (that I saw) of the approximate time it takes to create a diamond, so your 20-30k could be accurate. (sorry, I went to wikipedia instead of the googles)

And, I think I know what SWAG is.. but... ? (something about asses & guessing?)

yup, seriously-wild one

good, i may know something about geology after all

Kevin wrote - yup, seriously-wild one

asses or guessing? or both? =).

both