Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

UPDATE: Fire in the Apartment

Well this is interesting. 12:20am on Thursday I wake up to a fire alarm going off in my apartment. Time to evacuate.

I’m sitting in my truck, on my computer, waiting to see what is going on.

UPDATE: Okay Time for the whole story, since it is 1 AM in the morning now. This evening I decided to stay at work, and finish projects I was doing. This wasn’t totally unusual, but I haven’t done in a while. I didn’t actually arrive at home until about 11 o’clock. At which point I wanted to do a little more work and watch couple videos, while falling asleep. So then comes 12:20 AM, where I’m half asleep.

I see flashing, if there is one thing I am sensitive to it is light, and I start to wake up. as I start to wake up, thank you the noise. It is the noise of an annoying fire alarm.  At first I don’t take it seriously, I sit up, I think about it, and I realize I can hear other people moving outside. That’s when I jumped up and put on a shirt, and pants. And I think, by the way I’m being a really bad example for this, should I take my computer? Well of course, so I quickly grabbed my computer bag which already had my computer in and left the building. First thing I do, jump in the truck and jumped onto twitter.

In about 15 min. 2 fire trucks, fire rescue vehicle, three RCMP and one ambulance were on scene. People were wandering around everywhere wondering what was going on. I sat my truck, blogging and twittering.

Eventually after 20 min. of watching the firefighters go up and down the stairs and through apartments they let everyone go back in. As I was walking back in, I asked one of the firefighters what it was. Turns out someone forgot they were cooking stove and it was a cooking fire. I would like to stress the point that it was 12 midnight, when most are either ready for bed or are at work.

So thanks to some other people in this apartment, I’m now going to be extra tired tomorrow. Good night.

UPDATE 2: According to EnergeticCity.ca the alarm was triggered by someone who forgot about their hot dogs on the stove.

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When the Sun is Shining

Today reminded me of my childhood. It was a bright, sunny, crisp winter day here in Fort St John and it reminded me of home. As I was driving up and down streets I would see Father and Son shovelling snow, possibly making a “snow fort.”

Sometimes I’m afraid to grow up, to leave family behind. Sometimes I’m afraid I will forget all the good times I had with my family as I grew up.

Lovely the neighborhood.

Sometimes you just need to leave a though alone and let it unfold.

Dexter is in my head

My brother will laugh at me by saying this, but I’m comparing myself to Dexter. You know the serial killer who works for the Miami PD. The one that’s a fictional character who is on TV. I know I am crazy.

I have been watching the seasons. I have finished season one and season two, and I’m just waiting for season three. I love the way the show goes, with Dexter talking to himself in his head. And this is where I start comparing myself.

I to talk to myself in my head, as I’m sure many of us do. Sometimes I’m the only one around to talk to, and that’s not saying I’m lonely. Sometimes the greatest listeners is yourself.  I guess Dexter calls himself different and unusual, which he is. I’m not, I’m average. What makes me compare myself to Dexter is actually not talking myself. It is actually talking to you.

I have been told many times that when I write I write as if I’m saying it. I write as if I’m actually talking to you, telling you a story, picturing you in my head as I type the words on the page. I don’t know I started doing it, it was just very conversational. So what brought on this comparison of Dexter, will that would be Dragon Dictate.

As I just mentioned, my writing is a lot like my speech, but I never actually spoke the words I wrote out loud. Now I am, I’m saying my blog posts allowed. I’m looking at a blank document, thinking about what I’m going to say, and then saying it. This also explains why so many of my blog posts, have a lot of grammatical errors, and misused words.
Dexter Morganphoto © 2009 Guilhermo O Martines Junior Martines | more info (via: Wylio)
This addition of Dragon Dictate has allowed me to say whatever I want without having to over think it. When I actually type out what I’m going to say, I over think it. I over analyze and forget to just say what I want to say. Now I can.

“It was a very nice day outside.”

See what I just did there, I said whatever I wanted to in the program just translated my speech to text. The word bliss comes to mind. Although I’m fairly certain my roommate now thinks I’m crazy, but as I said above that is common knowledge.

So I need to focus, mingler

As I mentioned this evening I attended this synergy mingler, which is a junior division of the Fort St. John Chamber of Commerce. I was actually a guest speaker, where I spoke about social media.

I mentioned my anxiety, which went away as I started to speak. What I did find though is when I speak without really planning for it, I tend to lose focus. I start to ramble and go all over the place. I try to make fun of the situation and make sure everyone knows what I’m talking about.

I do really want to work on this, and I think it comes with time. I know my product, but I think I need to organize my routine on presenting.

The group was small that attended this synergy mingler, which I don’t mind either way. The size of the crowd does not actually affect me. I did get to meet some interesting people that, and aesthetician, the owner of a basket boutique and some guys who run the local paintball group. There were good conversations and good pizza and I enjoyed my evening.

I do think I will return, I actually wouldn’t mind getting involved. I don’t mind the mingler’s, but I think we can do more. I think back to Yellowknife, when we hosted a barcamp, where we all gathered for an afternoon and discussed one topic. The topic was relating to things that we needed to figure out within our niche. For synergy we could talk about issues that relate to being an entrepreneur.

The other thing that happened this evening was the business card draw. The draw was for a gift basket which was full of chocolates and goodies. Can you guess who won? Ironically I did, which was awkward. For some reason I always find it awkward to win at these events. I don’t like winning, I don’t like being in the spotlight for these types of situations. Nonetheless the these chocolates are good and they are mine.

So if you find yourself in Fort St. John, on a Thursday, come out to a Synergy mingler.

The anxiety of speaking

It’s a funny thing, anxiety. I don’t have a problem speaking in public, but for some reason the time leading up to it is always a little nerve-racking.

A Visual Approach to Public Speaking-VizThink NYCphoto © 2009 jonny goldstein | more info (via: Wylio)

My heart starts to race a little, I don’t really know what it is. Maybe it’s the fear forgetting something, maybe it’s the fear of thinking that you’re going to sound like an idiot. I’m not really sure what it is. All I know is that I can’t shake it, because it is the funniest thing. It could even be, that I’m actually afraid to screw up, then I’ll forget something.

As soon as I get in front of people, the anxiety goes away. It just goes away and I’m able to speak. I make sense, I speak fluidly, and people actually like it. They think I know what I’m talking about.

The real solution to this problem, other than the fact that I can talk about it. I’m sure someone can tell me as soon as I publish this, that the best way to get over this is to keep doing it. They may even say, practice makes perfect.

And that it does.