365 Thank Yous (REVIEW)

365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life
by John Kralik

My rating: 3½ of 5 stars

I first looked at this book in a college bookstore. It was on a shelf filled with books for graduates and students entering college. At first, I thought that perhaps it was a little out of place, immediately thinking it was a typical self-help book. I didn't buy the book then, but when I ran across it again at my local bookstore, I decided to pick it up based on the cover recommendation by The Last Lecture co-author Jeffery Zaslow (whose NY Times column I frequently read).

Kralik's book is an accessible and easy read, and I was happy to find that it isn't really a self-help book at all; rather it is a personal memoir of a particular year or so in his life. It isn't great literature, nor is it a "step-by-step" guide to picking yourself up by the bootstraps -- Wayne Dyer-esque type book. 365 Thank Yous isn't really pop psychology, nor is it preachy... The crux of the book is Kralik's desire to try and look at his life through a different lens. Rather than continuing to be bitter and angst-ridden over all the problems in his life, Kralik sought to try and find things to be thankful for and to do so every day for a year.

As he goes through his thank you letter exercise, not only is Kralik able to gain a new (and better) perspective on his own life, he starts to equate the turn-around in his fortunes, as evidenced by some of the good things happening in his life, to his thank you letter writing campaign. Which not only reinforced his mission but recalled his earliest experience writing a thank you note to his grandfather:

He promised that if I wrote him a letter thanking him for this silver dollar, he would send another one. That was the way thank-you letters work, he told me.

I think that one of the reasons this book struck a chord with me is that I can recall being "chained" (figuratively, not literally) to my desk after my high school graduation, writing thank-you notes to all the people who sent me gifts. At the time, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I remember my Mother explaining that not only was it the right thing to do but that good things would follow as a result...

As I read through the book, I found myself drawn closer and closer to Kralik's narrative. Initially, this had as much to do with our lives seeming eerily parallel. To begin with, we worked in the same part of town (at the same time he was going through his letter-writing campaign), and I've been to almost every place that he mentions in the book (in fact, we could have easily bumped into each other at any one of several local places). Our careers briefly intertwined when we worked for the same company in the early 1990s...

But most importantly, I can relate to how Kralik perceived himself in 2008. Like him, I had been through the divorce ringer; I wasn't happy with how my career was progressing and wasn't fulfilled by my work. On top of that, my personal relationships were at an all-time nadir.

Kralik's solution to these "problems" was to look for things to be thankful for (and to write his thank you notes). This is certainly a "therapy 101" solution to these kinds of challenges and isn't (or at least shouldn't be) an earth-shattering epiphany for most people. But for me, at least, reading Kralik's memoir has allowed me to look at my own life and consider all of the things in my life for which I am grateful, and if I choose to write a few more thank you notes as a result...then all the better.

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Memorial Day

In a 2008 blog post, I wrote that it has become passé to remember Thomas Jefferson's admonition that "Liberty needs to be watered regularly with the blood of tyrants and patriots." Almost three years on from that scribble, our collective memory seems to be fading more markedly than I first thought.

Today the immortal words of Winston Churchill ring more true than ever: "never was so much owed by so many to so few". The rights and freedoms that we enjoy are hard earned privileges not entitlements. As Jon Meacham of WNET points out in this PBS Need to Know essay, the separation between most American citizens, and those who serve (and pay) to protect our nation has widened almost to the point of non-recognition:

This Memorial Day takes place not even a month removed from the killing of the "most wanted man in the world", the face of the "global war on terrorism", Osama bin Laden. Yet Americans are decidedly removed from a sense of urgency in our current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, let alone remembering the sacrifices of years gone by. Collectively, we seem to have forgotten the simple act of remembering the cost, in human lives, that has been paid to ensure that we have the freedom to enjoy three-day weekends, to eat hamburgers and hot dogs, and share the company of our friends and loved ones on this holiday weekend.

In his General Order #11, marking the first Memorial Day on May 30, 1868, General John A. Logan wrote:

Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Logan's words are prescient. At the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, there are no longer living veterans who remember the sacrifices of their comrades. America's last World War I veteran passed away in February 2011, and World War II veterans are passing at a rate of 1,000 vets per day. Without those who saw these sacrifices, first hand, it is up to each of us to put into practice General Logan's words. Today, I choose to remember the sacrifices of the men and women, some of them my friends, who gave themselves for something we are allowed to take for granted. You are remembered and appreciated!

Memorial Day 2011, a photo by thrunance'seyes.

Hustle Ball

Back when I was a kid, baseball practice was boring (for the most part). Two hours of waiting for a turn to do something. We'd start by warming up our arms, but that was pretty much it. Then we'd take positions assigned by the coach, and he'd hit balls to us so we could practice simulated situations... runners at first and third, etc... After 45 minutes to an hour of this, we'd start some kind of batting practice, one or two players would come in off the field and one would hit while the other waited to hit. After several pitches/hits the batter would "run on the last hit", then rotate into the outfield and someone would rotate in to the dugout...

I can still, three decades later, remember waiting all practice just for the opportunity to hit. But the rest of practice, well, it was just waiting around - punctuated by an opportunity, here or there, to field and throw the ball. Even when I was older and played catcher (and was able to touch the ball many more times) it was still a rather boring exercise, and not just for me. Even in the best-case scenario you have 8 or so kids sitting around doing almost nothing for the majority of the two-hour practice. Which is more than just frustrating for the kids, it is a wasted opportunity, one where the kids should be working on their skills and improving.

So, when I coach, I always try to use a more methodical approach, including different stations for the players to rotate through. However, stations require supervision, and not just from a safety perspective, but also from an instruction perspective. The surest way for a player to get better is to repeat the same drill over a series of practices. But repetition will only make a player better if they are repeating the drill properly (or, at least, receive instruction to correct the repetitions of the drill). But for many coaches, they just don’t have enough qualified help to make stations practical for youth a baseball team (and I have certainly been in that situation). So even the coach who has a great practice plan (and I highly encourage all coaches, at all levels, to write down their practice plan beforehand) can find him/herself at the mercy of a lack of supervision.

For those coaches who are harried, trying to fit a practice in between work, feeding the family, etc…, I’d like to offer a few suggestions. Most youth baseball teams, in my experience, have an average of 12 players. This means you can typically break down the team into three “squads” of 4 players each. Then try to get three parents to supervise (for safety's sake) each a drill -- assuming you don't have coaches to help.

These small squads, coupled with some assistance, provide a number of unique advantages. First, by breaking the team down into more manageable groups, you can have each group focus on one skill/drill at a time. Also, by keeping the number of players even (in each group) you can usually give some instruction to the small group, showing them how to do the drill properly, and then have them work with each other (or a parent volunteer) to execute the drill (allowing you to observe, or move to another group and provide additional instruction). If a group has an uneven number of players, it isn’t the end of the world, but it usually means one player will be sitting around do nothing – always try to minimize kid's doing nothing.

I also think that breaking the team down into squads can be used to foster a spirit of competition between the players on your team. Competitions allow players to try to reach a standard as well as set records (and try to beat those records). Most players want to compete, so this makes the practice more fun for them and it allows me to quickly assess players progress (and areas that need more work).

To finish up practice on a fun, competitive, note I like to run a game we call “hustle ball”. As can be gleaned from its name, the key here is hustle (not necessarily speed). Once the players learn the game, and play it a few times, we can usually complete a full six-inning game in 30 minutes (or less).


Equipment

4x Ball Buckets
1x L-Screen
1x Stopwatch
2x Coaches

Setup is pretty easy, empty 3 ball buckets into one, then place an empty ball bucket in foul territory behind first base; another behind second base; and one next to the catcher.

Place the full bucket of baseballs behind the L-Screen for a coach to throw. One coach will be the pitcher for both teams and one will keep time on the stopwatch.

Rules

All baseball rules apply for Hustle Ball, with the following adjustments:

Predetermine time between pitches and between innings. Generally, start off easy, and as the players get used to the game and try to work down to where you are giving 10 seconds after a hit or out for the next pitch and 30 seconds between innings.

All hitters step into the batter's box with a 2-1 count.

Any ball or strike received by the catcher is placed in the bucket beside him--not thrown back to the pitcher.

When a hit or an out is recorded, the defense has 10 seconds to get the ball in to a bucket, and the offense has 10 seconds to get the next hitter into the batter's box. The coach with the stopwatch will let everyone know the time left by counting down when 5 seconds are left (5,4,3,2,1... then a pitch is thrown).

When the first baseman records an out, he places the ball in the bucket beside him. Outs or base hits to the outfield are returned to the relay man, then to second base where the ball is placed in the bucket and the 10-second count down begins.

After recording the third out, the 2B or SS is responsible for bringing in their bucket and putting the balls in the coach's bucket behind the L-Screen. The 1B and C are responsible for bringing their buckets to the mound as well.

The team entering the field works in reverse in that their 2B/SS must retrieve the now empty bucket from the pitcher's mound and take it back to behind second base.

The new 1B is responsible for his bucket and the catcher's bucket is thrown back to home plate. Failure to do any of this constitutes an automatic out.

Teams have 30 seconds between innings to get ready. If the first batter of the new inning is not in the batter's box, helmet on, ready to hit, when the time is up, a pitch is thrown and is always a strike. If the defense is not ready and in position at the end of 30 seconds, a pitch is thrown and the defense must deal with the batted ball despite being out of position.

In order to encourage hustle, also call outs whenever bats or helmets are left near the playing field (my kids just keep their helmets on when they are playing the field) or if you catch a member of a team not sprinting on or off the field.

Try it out, after doing 60-90 minutes of drills, your players will enjoy the chance to "play" the game (and look forward to the next practice).

Creating a star filter effect in Photoshop CS4

I found it interesting, that after posting my Christmas blog in December, I received several e-mail comments -- not about the writing, but rather about the photo of our Christmas tree.  Not exactly the response I was expecting, but flattering (I guess) none-the-less...

Most of the comments read something to the effect of: "I really like the [Christmas tree] picture.  How did you get the starbursts?" Well in the "old days" I would have used a cross screen filter on my trusty SLR's 35-70mm zoom lens, as I was taking the picture. These filters are easily available for digital SLR lenses, but I didn't happen to have a filter when I took this digital photo (and to be honest it was taken in the wee hours of Christmas morning, and I was too tired/exhausted to even think of putting a filter on at the time anyway).  So I manipulated the picture in Photoshop to get the effect (which has to be one of the chief advantages of digital photography over the "old days").

The Photoshop technique I used isn't as straight forward as applying a ready-coded starburst filter (mostly because I just don't like the results from the filters I have seen).  But this process has a finite number of steps, so that most casual Photoshop users can create the effect with a little bit of effort and, if I dare say so myself, produce some very nice images.  So here is a tutorial detailing this technique for those who expressed some interest.

DISCLAIMER: This tutorial assumes that you have some previous experience with Photoshop and understand simple concepts like selecting tools/procedures from the menus, using the magic wand, pencil and lasso tools, cutting and pasting, etc... Also, please note that clicking on the images will bring up larger, more detailed, versions.

image 1: original photo w/background isolated

To begin with, the original picture I started with needed some work. As you can see, there is a hideous shadow (the result of using the camera's flash in an unlit room), also the background is cluttered and detracts from the main focus, which is the tree.  So, my first step was to isolate the background.  This ends up being the most tedious step in the process (using a combination of Photoshop's magic wand and lasso tools).

After isolating the background, choose Select -> Inverse from the menu bar and then the copy/paste commands to create a layer that includes only the tree and presents (the foreground) then change the exposure on the background layer via the Image -> Adjustments -> Exposure menu until you get the desired effect.

image 2: after adjusting the background exposure.

As you can see in image 2, the result is a much improved photo which still retains some hint of the depth behind the tree (that depth would disappear if the foreground was simply placed on a black background).

Now that the photo is prepared, select Layer -> Merge Down from the menu bar (or type ⌘E) to create the new background layer. Then duplicate the background layer by selecting the Layer -> Duplicate Layer option from the menu.  Be sure to choose the "new" Layer 1, from the layers tray, then choose the Threshold option from the Image menu (Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold). The Threshold option converts your layer to black and white (not grey-scale, but actually black and white pixels). This will result in your workspace looking like this:

image 3: applying Threshold command to Layer 1.

As you can see, the lightest areas on the original image are now white and the remainder is black.  The goal, for a good starburst filter is to isolate the areas of white, so that they correspond to where you want the effect to show up in your photo.  I adjust the Threshold level in the dialog box to remove most of the black/white balance until the lights were the primary points of white:

image 4: adjust the Threshold Level to isolate areas where the star effect will be added to the photo.

After this step is complete, you will notice that there are still many white spots that do not correspond to the light spots where you wnt to apply the effect.  Switch to the Pencil on the Photoshop tool pallet (I used a 13px sized pencil) and blacken in any of these white spots.  To make your life slightly easier, you can zoom in and toggle the black and white layer on and off, to determine which areas to blacken out as follows:

image 5

image 6

After you have cleaned up all of the white spots on layer 1, to your satisfaction, duplicate the layer again, by selecting Layers -> Duplicate Layer from the menu.  Your layers tray should now look something like this:

image 7

Most of the set-up work is now complete, so you can get into the meat of creating the star filter effect.  To begin, select the copy of your first layer (the one that you just created) in the Layers tray.

On this layer, you will want to apply one of Photohop's pre-set filters called the motion blur.  Select the motion blur from the filters menu (Filters -> Blur -> Motion Blur).  If you have ever used motion blur before, the filter will have the last settings that you used pre-populated in its dialog box.  In all likelihood, these will need to be modified.

First, change the angle of the blur.  In this example I used a simple cross hatch where the rays of light emanate out perpendicular to each other (i.e, at 90° angles respectively).  You can choose to make your stars have more than two axes or non-perpendicular ones as well.

In this example, I chose to start by setting the blur axis to 45°.  After establishing the angle of the first axis, then you can adjust its length by changing the value in the distance box (I chose 850px).

image 8: adding the first motion blur

Now, as you can see from the accompanying scree shot, the layer appears to be solid black.  This means that the blur filter has done its job, blendeding the white spots into the black background.  However, do not fret, your streaks of white are there we just need to use the levels command to bring them back out.

Select Image -> Adjustments -> Levels to open the Levels dialog box which will look like this:

image 9: open the Levels dialog box.

Click on the white slider in the input levels chart and slide it to the left, as you do so, you will see the streaks of white lighten up as you move your mouse to the left:

image 10: bringing out the blurred streaks of light.

Now that you have "illuminated" the streaks, take a moment and jot down the values below the Input Levels graph.  You will want to use these values when you go to create the perpendicular (cross-hatched) layer. You will also notice that these streaks are fairly uniform in size and that they end rather abruptly (based on what you chose for the length in the blur step). The starburts formed on a real cross hatch filter taper off at the ends. To accomplish this, simply re-apply the motion blur filter. Since this was the last filter you used, it will be at the top of the Filter drop-down menu so select Filters -> Motion Blur (or type ⌘F):

image 11: 2nd motion blur pass.

The result of the second blur pass should give you a series of nice long, tapered, streaks:

image 12: first light streak layer complete.

Now you are going to switch from this layer back to layer 1 (the layer originally manipulated with the Threshhold level adjustment.  On this layer, you will repeat the steps above, to create another layer of streaks.  However, the blur on this layer should be perpendicular to the blur created initially.  Since I used a simple 45° blur on the initial layer, I'm just going to reverse that by changing the angle to -45° (the distance will remain the same):

image 13: creating a new layer with a perpendicular blur.

Once again, select Image -> Adjustments -> Levels from the menu, and this time type in the values you wrote down from the initial streak layer, then re-apply the secondary motion blur:

image 14: adjust the levels using the same values as the first time.

Now you'll need to blend the two "streak" layers together to create the cross-hatch effect.  I do this by using the screen option from the pull-down menu on the layers tray:

image 15: blend layers using the screen option.

The screen option works particularly well because the background on the image layers is black. The result of blending the two layers shows the classic cross-hatching that we are looking for:

image 16: after blending the "streak" layers.

Be sure you have the top most layer selected and select Layer -> Merge Down (⌘E) again, combing the two top layers:

image 17: merge the two streak layers to create the cross-hatch.

The last steps are to take the cross-hatch layer and blend it into the background image, then make any adjustments to the cross-hatch layer to "punch up" or "tone down" the starbursts, and finally to flatten the final image for the web...

Blending the starburst streaks into the background can be done using several different blend mode techniques.  As was done to create the cross-hatch layer itself, you can use the screen option to blend the layers together.  This may work for some kinds of images, but on images with rich colors the result of the screen blend maybe "too white" (it is for my tastes).  So for this example, I chose the color dodge blending option:

image 18: Blend the cross-hatch using the color dodge mode.

After applying the blending mode, use the Image -> Adjustments -> Levels menu to change the input levels on the cross-hatch layer to achieve your desired starburst effect:

image 19: adjust the levels on the cross-hatch layer before merging the layers and saving the image.

Merge the top layer down again (⌘E), and save the image in your favorite file format (JPEG or PNG for web) for the finished star filtered image.

QED