Wow, it has been an entire month since the last time I updated this blog. Hey, that is ok. It is after all, my blog.

I have been spending all my creativity at the office, and how many people can say that? Probably not many. How many people go to work dreaming of the day that they can start their own business or move to another position that better suits their passions; probably most. I get to do what I am passionate about nearly everyday. Yeah, there are days that are slogs, but most aren’t. Also, I work on a small team that trusts me. That means that a lot of the time, it is my vision, or I have a big say in what is created.

I have had the opportunity to do some jobs that are completely up to the client, and the final product isn’t what I would have done, and that is pretty excruciating. I can only imagine how hard it is to be the art guy at a t-shirt shop or somewhere where you spend your days creating the imaginings of customers who have limited or no vision. Ewww.

I am always impressed with the people who can do that without blowing up and becoming so frustrated that they lose their job. Or, maybe I pity them because maybe they have just given up; passion gone, just turning the wheels.

If you are there, I challenge you to sit down and make a list of the things that you are good at and you absolutely love and start making progress towards crafting your job to look more like that. You are surrounded by people who are passionate about the things that you hate. Give those jobs away. Find ways to be a part of the things you love. Ask to help out. Donate your time to fulfilling pursuits. You will find that over time, you will start having to donate your time less and less as you become an expert.

I am an artist at an organizational development company. We help companies develop their talent. Most companies like ours don’t have an artist on staff because they don’t believe that they can afford them. In the past, that was true. Now however, the cost of computers, cameras, software, and other tools of the trade have dropped so much in price they may be surprised at what is possible.

Ten years ago, I would have had to work at a magazine, television station, or design shop to do what I do. Not anymore. The real surprise here is that since I am not on a huge team of creatives, I have huge variety in my job and I get a major say in what it looks like.

I have a degree in Transportation and Logistics. I should be in the trucking industry. I am not passionate about that. I have no official training in art. (Though at times that would be handy…) I just started to do what I was passionate about more and more and started dropping the things I wasn’t passionate about. I got noticed and hired. Now I am in my own personal bulls-eye. It is possible. Do it.

What what?? I am posting this using my cell phone as a modem. I finally got it to work! I tried for over an hour unsuccessfully to get my computer to see the Internet through my phone. It wasn’t until I went into the settings of the phone and change the USB’s default settings to ‘Modem’ instead of ‘ActiveSync’. Here is how I did it.

Before You Do Anything…
In order to use you AT&T 3G phone as a modem, you have to download AT&Ts Communication Manager. Normally, I try not to use third-party connection management programs because they are usually poorly written. In this case, you need it because it installs the correct drivers and creates the needed dial-up setting.

I have done some testing, once I installed the AT&T Communication Manager, I connected to the Internet without it, and my Samsung Blackjack kept dropping the connection. Once I turned the Communication Manager back on and used it to connect to the net, all was fine.

After you have the AT&T CM installed, you need to make these changes to your phone:

1. Click the ‘Start’ Button on the phone.
2. Click on ‘Settings”
3. Click on ‘Connections’
4. Click on ‘USB’
5. Set the ‘USB Connection setting:’ to ‘Modem’*
6. Open the AT&T Communication Manager Program on your computer
7. BEFORE you connect you phone, click on ‘Device Wizard’ in the ‘Tools’ Menu
8. Follow the instructions in the wizard.
9. Once connected to you phone, click the ‘Connect’ button in the AT&T Communication Manager and then…Boom, you should be up and running!!!!

* If you use ActiveSync, your phone will warn you that ActiveSync will no longer work. Just remember to change your USB back to ‘ActiveSync’ before you try to sync again.

I also went into the task manager and turned off the ActiveSync program just for good measure.

After I did these things, the AT&T Connection Manager saw the phone as a Modem and voila… here I am blogging using the phone as my connection to the tubes!!!

What a deal…

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I just tested the speed, and they are comparable to what I was seeing the other night when I tested the speed using the browser on the phone itself. I am getting around 750kbps down and 120 kbps up. Plenty fast for blogging and email and light browsing. I am ecstatic!