I am not a good writer, but I learned this

// September 26th, 2013 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

I don’t think I’m a great writer. When I finish writing I usually don’t have the patience to go back to proofread. Once I’m done writing, I am done. Ready to move on to something else. It’s been this way since grade school and I am, for certain, a creature of habit.

I do, however, enjoy learning new words. Like up at the top of this blog: “précis.” It pretty much means summary – and more importantly for my site – it starts with a “p.” I’m always trying to expand my vocabulary and those sorts of things.

Anyway, when I talked recently about building a personal brand, I realized that building the brand that is “Matt Chepeleff” is more important. After all, part of my brand is a 6.4 out of 10 ranking as a writer – and that’s fine with me.

I did recently learn, however, one bit of knowledge from the world of writing that had always confused me. (more…)

Music on the Porch

// September 18th, 2013 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

We have a screened-in porch off in our home and we love music. Already having some speakers hooked up to an Airport Express in the office (which so nicely fill the downstairs with tunes during work, parties, and in-between), we wanted to add some music to the porch as well. It was so simple and works so well I thought I’d share what we did.

First – get an Airport Express (http://bit.ly/19h8syz).

Second – get some nice speakers. I opted for some in ceiling speakers as they’d be out of the way and I had easy access to run the wires already. I went with some Micca 8″ speakers (http://amzn.to/17Kk2SH) which got great reviews – and turns out – sound super!

Third – get a speaker amp to connect the Airport Express to the speakers themselves. I went with a Lepai 20 watt amp (http://amzn.to/14jYcF3). Note: you’ll also need some speaker cable – but you can get that just about anywhere.

The installation is very simple. Start with the speakers. These install like old construction switch boxes (if you’re electrically inclined you’ll know what I mean). Cut a hole with the template you’ll get with each speaker, attach the speaker wire, then set the speaker in the hole and use 4 screws with tabs on them that will kick in and hold it right in place for you.
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Your Personal Brand – It’s Important

// September 12th, 2013 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

I had a good friend recently tell me that I should share my thoughts and try to be better about writing/blogging. He said it was important in itself – but also important it that it builds your personal brand. I kind of agreed – in that, “perfect world”/where-I-had-time sort of way. I could see it would be good for networking, for positioning myself for the future, etc. – but it seemed difficult to start doing. Plus, I was always busy with something else in the short-term. No time for long-term stuff. Every time I would try to sit down and write something, I would either develop an immediate onset case of writers block or I would come up with ideas that were not “good enough.”

He told me this didn’t matter – and I was setting the bar too high. My definition of “good enough” and someone else’s probably were not the same. And just because I didn’t find something interesting perhaps didn’t mean much – the mere fact I’ve done something could be of interest to someone, somewhere.
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