Aspen’s Blog

Aspen Group has entered the "Blogisphere." The intent of this blog (http://www.aspengroupblog.com/) is to offer "unvarnished" bits of information, and provoke conversation about all the various aspects of planning, design, financing and building church facilities.

I am excited to see how this blog develops. I think that this will be a great place for church leaders to gain valuable insight on how to apply the plethora of information coming out of The CKN. It would be great to see some coordination between Ed Bahler's blog posts, which focuses on the understanding the critical intersection of culture, ministry, leadership and facility issues, and Aspen's blog which speaks to practical application of those issues.

For all of my faithful reader's convenience, I have placed an easy to use link here on the Blogoire.

P.S.
Aspen, that is a great books photo you are using for Brad's Library!

The Communication Conundrum

Missy and I have been married for nearly 8 years now, and dated for about 3 years before that. It has taken me that entire time to begin to understand how to communicate with her. Turns out I am a slower learner than I thought. Let me tell you about the recent breakthrough.

Like many so days before, I was on my way home from my “2nd Place”, work, and I called my wife to see how her day went. For many years, this well intentioned conversation has often taken a turn for the worst. After some intense research, Missy has helped me discover that these conversation catastrophes have been primarily the result of me saying the wrong thing. It turns out that when she presents a problem, or frustration to me, she is not looking for a Fix! Even though I have heard that "women do not want you to fix the issue", from her, and others over the past 10-15 years, it is hard not offering my inestimable wisdom to all of her tribulations.
So this is how the pivital conversation went down the other day…. I called Missy on my way home like I usually do, we discussed how our day went, and then the infamous moment where she explains a trial she faced during the day presented itself. I was faced with decision. Do I:

A) give her the obvious solution, that will undoubtedly make her life infinitely better, or

B) say these words “I could see how that would really frustrate you. How do you think you will handle this?”

Wow! “B” turned out to be the right answer.

As the conversation was coming to an end, she commented on the fact that it was a nice talk, and that I was really learning how to listen. Who knew it was that easy?!

To the newlywed guy out there reading this, trust me when I say, she doesn’t care what you think, only that you care. Listen-Don’t talk.

This has been another Duh!!.!! moment brought to you by Josh.

Bigger Costs Less

This post goes out to a couple of friends at Aspen HQ.

Yesterday, our good friends at the University of Utah released finding from a resent study conducted to determine if monitor size and aspect ratios effected productivity.

While I was not shocked to find out that a larger screen = increased productivity, I was shocked as to the level of increased productivity. Switching a user from a 19-inch display to a 24-inch widescreen resulted in the user completing tasks associated with documents and spreadsheets by more than 30%.

The study found the net annual cost savings of using 24-inch widescreen monitors in place of standard format, 18-inch monitors, including electricity and monitor costs, is roughly $8,400 per year, per employee. (That math assumes a staffer who makes $32,500 annually.) For Aspen Group, that could result in a $134,000 a year cost savings for the Frankfort office alone! Let me know if you want me to place an order Tom.

Thank you University of Utah!