Part 2 – Growing up and living in the South

I’ve lived in the South my whole life. I started out by being born in Wilmington, North Carolina. When I was very young my family moved to Franklin, Virginia.

Franklin is a small town located in the Western Tidewater area of Virginia and about an hour’s drive West from Virginia, Beach. When I was growing up in Franklin it was a small town dominated by a paper mill that employed probably 75% of the people living in the area. My father worked at the paper mill, and we were a typical middle-class Southern white family.

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Current Events

We the people [Police in America]…

June 13, 2020June 17, 2020 by Bruce Gilbert

Part 1 – police are out of control, and have been for a long time

I have always believed in the power of the people. The United States of America has always been about the people who make up this country. The
U.S is a melting pot consisting of Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asian, Indian, Men, Women, Transgender, Gay, Straight, Religious, and non-religious. We are all a part of America and all equal. Well, at least we should be in the true spirit of what America was intended to be.

Recent events are showing that most Americans are not satisfied with the America of today and are taking their opinions and voices to the streets with demonstrations and in some cities riots and looting. I am too old to be put protesting and with the pandemic, I don’t feel safe being close to so many people, but I still have strong feelings and this is why I am writing these blog posts.

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Life

Your thoughts become your reality

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019 by Bruce Gilbert

I have lately been thinking about how your thoughts affect your mood and how your thoughts can also become your reality. I totally agree with this. I believe if you continue to have negative thoughts you will become depressed and when you become depressed then you become sick, and it is hard to recover because you are in a constant cycle of negative thoughts depression and sickness.

Everyone has their ups and downs, myself included. Sometimes it is hard to remain positive based on circumstances that happen to us, situations that aren’t the best and over-all bad luck. I stay positive by thinking of the downtimes as learning experiences. An experience that you will grow from and be stronger because of what you went through.

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Determination

Learning for a lifetime

February 27, 2019March 2, 2019 by Bruce Gilbert

I have a passion for web design and web development. I don’t have a computer science degree or a graphic design degree, but I do hold a BA in Communications from Elon University I also have a certificate in Graphic Design from The School of Communication Arts in Raleigh, NC (now Living Arts college). Additionally, I have taken classes at local community colleges to learn HTML, CSS, basic JavaScript and Flash.

ANYONE WHO STOPS LEARNING IS OLD, WHETHER AT TWENTY OR EIGHTY.” —HENRY FORD

Lately, I have taken courses online to keep up with the rapidly changing technology. Just in the past year, I have taken many courses on Udemy. They offer courses for pay on different web technologies. Some of the courses I have invested in recently are:

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Life

Enjoy the present because tomorrow is not promised

April 22, 2018May 13, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

It has been said that most people cannot enjoy the present because they are always dwelling on the past or looking to the future. I think that I can be counted in that category most of my life but as I have aged I have slowly learned to not take anything for granted and to enjoy the present as much as I can.

An often heard phrase is “stop and smell the roses”. To me, this means to take the time out of your day to realize where you are, what you are doing, who you are doing it with and most importantly why you are doing what you do.

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Healthy Lifestyle

Why I love drinking green tea

March 26, 2018March 26, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

I love green tea. I drink a lot of tea in general, but by far my favorite is the green variety. I will drink it hot in the Winter and cold in the Summer. Besides the refreshing taste, there are many other benefits to drinking green tea that might not be well known to most people.

First off, there isn't just one type of green tea, there are many varieties. Among the different varieties are Sencha, Tencha, Matcha, and Gyokuro. The most popular variety is Sencha. These are all teas grown in Japan, the capital of green tea. Read more about the various varieties of green tea.

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Philosophy

Evolution via Agile

January 18, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

Technologies evolve, processes evolve, businesses evolve and even people evolve (some more than others). Of those, I think that technology evolves quicker than anything else. It seems like overnight technologies can change.

With technology changes, there is a need to constantly be updating and evolving digital communications as well. When I say digital communications, I am referencing websites, web applications, blogs, email newsletters.

I have worked on several development teams that have adopted the Agile approach and I have learned a lot and adopted many of the Agile processes to my development process on freelance projects. Some staples of agile development are Sprints, Epics, SCRUM, Stand-Ups, and Feature Driven Development. I won’t go into detail for each one, but a good article can be found here.

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Determination

2018 New Year – New Resolutions

January 9, 2018January 9, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

Many people in a new year make New Year’s resolutions, and I am no different. Some people write down their resolutions on paper, some just make them mentally and nerds like me blog them out!

Without further ado, here are my 2018 New Years resolutions, at least some of them.

Exercise regularly, drink more water and meditate often.

Eat healthy meals.

Practice gratitude and take walks of gratitude.

Reflections of 2017

December 31, 2017January 4, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

It is December 30th as I write this. 2017 is almost over and as with a lot of people, the last few days are a time to reflect on the year that has been, and to make resolutions for the year to come. In this blog post, I will write my thoughts as well as share some of my New Years resolutions.

I’m going to come out and say it, 2017 has been brutal. I thought 2016 was a down year, but 2017 said to 2016 “hold my beer”. I mean this year has been challenging to say the least. I truly believe that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and this has been truly been put to the test this year.

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Category: Philosophy

We the people [my perspective of racism]…

Part 2 – Growing up and living in the South

We the people [Police in America]…

Part 1 – police are out of control, and have been for a long time

Your thoughts become your reality

Learning for a lifetime

Enjoy the present because tomorrow is not promised

Why I love drinking green tea

Evolution via Agile

2018 New Year – New Resolutions

Reflections of 2017