WordUp by Chad Gramling

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The last couple months, I have noticed an oddity of keyphrases that people have used to find my site. Most of them, I can explain in some fashion . . . except for my top search keyphrase. If, anyone could tell me what the phrase below is and why it is bringing people to my site, I would really appreciate it. If it is something bad, please let me know how to get rid of it too. Thanks.

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Every year, right about this time as a matter of fact, there are folks who canvass my neighborhood. The look at all the houses and try to target folks who might want their services.

Siding. Windows. Gutters. Lawn Care. Petitions. Vacuum Cleaners. “Magic” Wishy Washy Detergent That Cleans Everything . . . you get the idea.

My house seems to be singled out often. Not once have I purchased anything sold at my doorstep. NOT ONCE! Every time, I have politely declined, wanting nothing more to than to return to my dinner, my movie, my blog or whatever I was doing before some random solicitor entered my life by knocking on my door.

Despite my polite decline of their services, invariably I get the same outcome:

“Well, what about . . . ” or “Well, what if . . . ”

I DON’T CARE!!!!!

Today, I put up a simple little red sign that says “NO SOLICITORS” because you people continue to interrupt my life. I know it’s just a sign, but if it deters even just one such interruption, it was 89 cents well spent. I know you have a job to do and have to earn a living just like everyone else. But don’t do it at my doorstep . . . or my telephone. I’m on Indiana’s No Call List (THANK YOU STEVE CARTER) and I WILL REPORT YOU!

That is all.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Note: The following poem is one of the most often hit posts on this blog. Not sure why, but I thought I would throw it out there because I would love to see some folks comment on it and let me know their thoughts.

I wish we could go back

I wish we could go back;
back to a time before people
looked for reasons to take offense.
To a time when we loved one another
without regard to our selfish interests
and built walls of personal cells.

I wish we could go back;
and tell those we’ve loved,
and those we’ve lost,
the way we really felt;
and could speak
with honesty,
sincerity,
and integrity.

I wish we could go back,
to a time when genuine
was a trait that was
effortless.

Feelings might get hurt,
but if we could go back,
to a time when we
respected others;
the pain would sting less
and maybe - just maybe -
we could make humanity
a better race. And in turn,
make this earth a better place.

This year, as you gather one and all
take hands and experience the joy
of Christmas; and
remember the one true King.

Thank each other . . . just for being there.
Share your love as did He;
and don’t wish later
that you’d done it then . . . if only,
you could go back.

Tags: poems, poetry, Christmas, regret, Chad Gramling

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I had a dream loast night. In that dream, there was a person who made a joke about himself. It was funny. I would have never come up with a joke that clever in a conscious state. But in truth, that joke was quite insulting and had someone else said that joke to him in a real life situation, fists probably would have been flying.

This troubles me. I bet I have said many terrible things to people without realizing the hurt I have caused.

If this includes you, I’m very sorry.

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I have learned that I made a poor choice on the permalink structure when I set up my blogs. For instance, the most recent post at WordUp has the URL:

“http://www.chadgramling.com/wordup/?p=313″

But I would prefer it be:

“http://www.chadgramling.com/wordup/Chad-on-the-Radio.html”

From what I have learned, the latter format is better for SEO reasons. I know how to go into the options and change the structure to make it as such, but if I do that, I will in essence kill all my links. I could go in an edit .htaccess to redirect previous URLS to the new URL names. That’s a lot of work, but may be the price I have to pay.

Anyone have better suggestions? What else might this impact that I haven’t considered (like pages, categories, etc.)?

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Tune in to Talkin’ Sports Saturday morning at 10:00 as our guests will be “Baseball in Fort Wayne” author Chad Gramling and Indiana Tech Athletic Director Dan Kline.

Read more here.

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Picks are posted over at BaseballinFortWayne.com.

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Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

Today, my daughter Stella was baptized. Pastor Glen had asked Jenny and me to pick a scripture that we wanted to read for the day. He said it didn’t necessarily have to relate to baptism and that it should be more about Stella and what we want for her life.

This proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated and we soon found ourselves looking on the Internet for a little bit of a kick start. After a while, we finally decided upon Psalm 90:12. It is the same verse that begins this post.

It may be a bit confusing why this one was chosen, and I tried to explain the reasoning to the congregation. Not sure how well I did because I was basically winging it – plus, I didn’t want to try and turn my daughter’s baptism into an impromptu mini-sermon (a pastor I am not!). But here is why it was selected.

There are two parts to the scripture. The first reminds us that our days on this earth are numbered. Our lives are works in progress, or pages of a book if you will. Each day, we start fresh with a clean page. Just as our sins are wiped clean through Christ, every day is a new day. When we wake up, we have no idea what the day will bring.

Just like a book has chapters, so too do our lives. There are eras or great goodness and prosperity and there are times of massive struggle. Some of those chapters of our lives are shorter and some are longer – but as we live them, they become part of our fabric; who we are.

In fact, every day, we write the book (what a great song, right?). And once it is written, it’s there. You can go back and refer to it, remember it and reflect. You may have moments of your life that are underlined three times, written in bold print and vivid in your mind. But you cannot go back in time and change things. Likewise, you can’t skip ahead and find out what’s coming. The only moment you have any potential for control is the now.

In my mind, this is where the second part of the passage comes into play. To have a heart of wisdom is to have Christ in your heart.

Stella is going to carry out her life. I, as a parent, can hope to aim her in certain directions and teach her right from wrong. I can be an example. But ultimately, she is going to write her own pages, chapters and live out her own life.

The greatest hope I have for her is not wealth, greatness or fame. It’s that latter part of the passage that I hope to see my children adopt into their lives. I pray that Jenny and I – with the help of our family and church body – can instill that heart of wisdom in Stella. I pray the same for Daphne.

With that framework, no matter what they craft on that clean and fresh page, I have the assurance that they are performing God’s will. I will know that as they write their books, they will be tomes of great wisdom that are worth reading.

No agents, publishers, media representatives or distributors will be necessary. If God sees fit, he’ll take care of any and all of that on His own.

Tags: baptism, Psalm 90:12, providence, free will, life, musings

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This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to peruse Scott Bushnell’s Historic Photos of Fort Wayne (Turner Publishing). If you have any tie to Fort Wayne or appreciation for historic photos, you’ll be well served to pick up a copy of this book. Bushnell has done a wonderful job of collecting and synthesizing hundreds of years of history into this tome.

The photos in the book date back to the early-to-mid 1800’s and span the culture and society of Fort Wayne in areas of commerce, industry, leisure, religion and sports. You’ll find many wonderful photographs of buildings, railroad scenes, waterways, churches and sporting events like the Fort Wayne Komets, Zollner Pistons and some of the many baseball leagues that have called the Summit City home.

Of course, I immediately sought out all the baseball related photographs to pique my on interests. But there are so many other photos that simply must be enjoyed. For instance, the G. C. Murphys’ building on Wayne and Calhoun Streets where old-school buses and crowds of people masterfully dictates a different era. In fact, I likely would not have recognized the street as Fort Wayne if it were not for the Lincoln Tower lurking in the background.

Another wonderful photograph is of Sylvanus F. Bowsers’ factory on East Creighton Avenue. dozens of men work diligently to earn a day’s wages as the inventor, industrialist and philanthropist looks on. I could spend an hour looking over this charm to consider the many untold stories that appear here.

I could give you plenty of other examples. There are so many photos in this book, you’ll want to return to it time and time again. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Bushnell’s work won’t disappoint.

Tags: books, Fort Wayne Indiana, Scott Bushnell, Turner Publishing

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I often do posts about not posting here. It’s weird to me to realize that bloggers often feel like they own people an explanation for not posting. I suspect many of them do it simply to have a post - likely because they have not inspiration for what to blog.

In my case, it is often a mix of no inspiration and lack of time. Often, it is either one of those over the other. But lately, it has been more an issue of time. I’ve been spending a lot of time posting over at Baseball in Fort Wayne. With Spring Training in full swing, there’s a lot for me to post about as Major Leaguers ready themselves to return to the fields and dugouts, Minor Leaguers continue their development in their quests to earn everyday spots on rosters, veterans prove they still have it and the surprise stories of the year begin to develop.

I don’t know how anyone can’t love this game!

But anywho, it appears my work over there is paying off. As some of you might now, my posts on that site are syndicated on my AmazonConnect page. That’s something available to published authors, and I suspect I will syndicate from a different blog once I am able to publish more than one title. But right now, since Baseball in Fort Wayne is my only published book, it makes sense to syndicate from the marketing site I created for it.

But now, Baseball in Fort Wayne is starting to catch on in other parts of the country. Yesterday, I was humbled to find that a post about Torii Hunter was picked up by the Chicago Sun Times. Another post of mine, this one about Wade LeBlanc, was picked up by the Palm Beach Post.

I had had similar success when I had my other baseball blog. USA Today was a frequent user of my content, but when I shut it down, I lost that bit of personal satisfaction. I figured it would be tough for Baseball in Fort Wayne content to be picked up due in large part to its regional focus. But with some hard work, it’s working.

Tags: Baseball in Fort Wayne, Chad Gramling, Blogs, blogging, RSS, syndication, BlogBurst