Farewell my Friend – Tribute to Russ Jones 28 Jun 2021 8:35 AM (3 years ago)
I recently lost an amazing friend, Russ Jones.
Russ was the best man at my wedding, a mentor for my career who always encouraged and believed in me, an inspiration and role model as a husband and father, the friend I knew would always be there if I needed (and was in many times when I felt I had nobody), and a confidant I could easily entrust with my most personal secrets…
When I first met Russ, I was quickly amazed by his quick wit, deep intellect, clever and creative approach to all things, his compassion for others, his unquenchable thirst for Diet Coke… and one of the most impactful impressions.. his love for Morgan.
- At first it was “subtle” things, like witnessing the the way he was always available to her as his first priority, even when we were on a tight schedule. When traveling, speaking, entertaining clients, etc, it seemed so effortless for him to drop everything for 30 minutes to talk with her throughout the day and make sure he always called to say goodnight (and good morning) and tell her how much he loved her.
- He always had the most thoughtful gifts for her.. I remember him spending hours upon hours digitally recreating a family cookbook for a surprise… I remember a trip where we spent hours and hours over several days combing shops to find a gift, and how excited he was when he found the perfect one, a beautiful locket. I want to think it was for their dating anniversary, a special day which he celebrated religiously.
- There were many less subtle things…I think everyone knew Russ wanted to give Morgan the world… and he did, with Claren, Aven, and Ellis.. three incredibly smart and beautiful girls that he adored endlessly.
I can still feel the excitement he had when he shared with me that he was going to be a father. I watched him daily for years as he eagerly refreshed the page waiting to see pictures of the girls being posted by their teachers throughout the day. He always put family first, it was non-negotiable with no room for any debate.. which for Russ was a big deal, as he was always up for a debate.
I will always cherish the time spent discussing politics and philosophy with Russ. He believed in the good of humanity… that we should all hold ourselves accountable to our responsibility to be generous and care for the plight of others and to create equal opportunity for everyone.
It wasn’t just a belief he discussed over a great meal or a thoroughly researched bottle of amazing scotch… His philosophies were part of his identity and he practiced this in his daily life, constantly helping others, raising awareness, and advocating for respect and compassion. He would cover his eyes during certain movie scenes, not because he was too modest, but because he didn’t approve of the objectification, and this was his protest… one of his many amazing character traits that I would come to revere.
I’m grateful for the time I was able to share with Russ. My only regret is not spending more time watching him with the girls, as I’m certain it would have made me a better father to my own children, and it would have given me so many more wonderful memories to cherish and stories that I could share with his girls.
I think about a story he shared when the girls were being ‘too’ competitive with each other, and his efforts encouraging them to find joy in celebrating each other’s wins. It was important to him that we embrace the mentality that our victories are never won alone, our success is the byproduct of all our experiences and the love we receive from those around us, and that regardless of any differences we are all God’s children.
In every story shared, it is clear that with everyone Russ left a permanent impression… always marked with generosity and comfort, humor and challenged perspectives, and an unquestionable love for his family.
You will be sorely missed my friend, may you rest in peace.
You can find information about his memorial service, share stories that will be preserved for the family, and give support for the girls at https://RememberingRussJones.com
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WordPress – Email not sending after Jetpack Update 6 Jun 2017 11:49 AM (7 years ago)
I recently ran into an issue where I updated the Jetpack wordpress plugin to version 9.2, and suddenly the contact forms stopped working. I was able to see the form submit completely, and the contact information was still available in the “feedback” tab in the wordpress dashboard, but the actual email sending wasn’t working.
Fortunately, I have a solution..
I went through a series of troubleshooting for wordpress email, and confirmed that all other wordpress generated emails were sending just fine. The only issue was with the Jetpack contact form.
After doing some digging, I discovered that it was in the way that the headers were being formed in the latest jetpack update. I tried working with the jetpack plugin support team, as I was not the only person with the issue…. and they said they were working on a fix.. though it’s been over 2 weeks now, and they just launched an update without the fix!
Flywheel, the wordpress dedicated hosting company I use for many of my clients sites, came through for me. I had anticipated it might be an issue with their servers, but they confirmed that it was not on their end, and that it was in fact an issue with Jetpack. However, Flywheel went above and beyond in troubleshooting the issue, and even gave me a patch that I could use.
Just copy and past this to the end of your theme’s functions.php file, and everything should work out great!
add_filter('wp_mail', 'fw_mail_settings');
function fw_mail_settings( $args ) {
foreach( $args['to'] as $k => $to ) {
$to = str_replace('"', '', $to);
$to = explode(" ", $to);
$to = $to[0];
$args['to'][$k] = $to;
}
return $args;
}
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Watch Dog Dads 15 Oct 2015 8:28 AM (9 years ago)
I’m happy to help participate in the Watch Dog Dads program at my son’s school. Here is a copy of the presentation I delivered to help encourage volunteering and raise awareness of the importance of a father’s involvement in their child’s education and lives in general.
[slideshare id=53983002&doc=pizzanightpresentation-151015161613-lva1-app6891]
Watch Dog Dads Presentation Download (with notes)
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Don’t be trapped by dogma 29 Jan 2015 1:00 PM (10 years ago)
Read this.. felt motivated!
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
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I love you 17 Jun 2014 8:06 AM (10 years ago)
Sometimes we just don’t say it enough. All of the people in my life are simply amazing, and I couldn’t be more happy, proud, or motivated by those around me. Thank you all!
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PubCon South NOLA 2012 – 20% Discount with Offer Code – rc-9556420 12 Mar 2013 1:36 PM (12 years ago)
If you are debating whether or not to come see me speak at PubCon South this year in New Orleans, hopefully this sweet 20% off coupon will help convince you. Just checkout with a Gold or Platinum pass using the offer code rc-9556420.
PubCon was always my goto event when I started in search marketing years ago… it is just so easy to develop new ideas, learn from others mistakes, and take home several new additions to your SEO toolkit. I think this is becoming even more important for in-house SEOs over the past year or two as Google has made many significant changes to the their algorithm and its always a great to hear all the ideas and theories about what strategies will continue to work, and what the next big “wave” will be. I’m proud to have developed my expertise to now be a speaker at PubCon, and I hope you will join me in NOLA!
Disclaimer: I believe I do get some type of referral fee if you use my coupon code…. though this has no impact on my opinion that PubCon is always awesome!
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Update: Salman Khan and Google Play 25 Oct 2012 5:28 AM (12 years ago)
Video is available: Google Play presents: Salman Khan of Khan Academy: http://t.co/SbeohqDv via @youtube
— Jake Bohall (@jakebohall) October 25, 2012
So, I was selected to be one of the individuals to ask Mr. Khan a question during the Google Play interview… YAY. Here is the video of the interview and its full of all kinds of fantastic information and ideas that are shaping education for our future.
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Salman Khan will be hosting a Google Hangout! 4 Oct 2012 5:08 AM (12 years ago)
Khan Academy founder to host live Google Hangout to discuss the disruption of education http://t.co/6uyfETM4
— Jake Bohall (@jakebohall) October 4, 2012
You may be familiar with the name, Salman Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, which is an organization providing a large library of educational videos to facilitate self-learning. I’m really excited about the hangout and look forward the momentum this is helping to build. This is a pairing with Google as part of an effort to build awareness around education and to discover talent within the space. There was a recent search for “Education Gurus” – http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/09/finding-next-generation-of-talented.html, and it appears Google is working diligently to bring positive attention/change to this sector.
Unfortunately, with getting married, work, etc.. I haven’t quite been paying as much attention to the space as I would like and I’m very grateful for Mark Traphagen bringing this to my attention.
If I were participating in the hangout I would probably ask some of the following questions:
- In this more global economy, do you see the purpose of education to be preparing children for “life” by continuing to focus in a broad curriculum, or do you foresee a shift in which the curriculum becomes more focused on catering to the specific strengths and passions of the individual students to foster a more specialized individual? Why?
- There is a significant gap in learning between single-parent, low-income, light/no involvement households and those in which one or both parents are more involved. From this, it seems one of our biggest challenges is parents prioritizing their child’s education and overcoming other socioeconomic barriers preventing them from being more involved. Is it our responsibility to the children to adjust our education system to accommodate for these scenarios, and how could you foresee that being handled?
- The Kahn Academy is providing a much needed service by facilitating the shift to online education. As technology continues to improve education, how do you foresee the roles of a teacher shifting? For example, if each child has a custom curriculum being delivered via videos, etc.. does the teacher role become more of a classroom moderator and facilitator than a traditional teacher?
- Many educators strongly support the increased learning resulting from online and technology-driven educational strategies, but fear negative social impacts and a decrease in collaborative thinking. How does your opinion agree/differ, why, and how do you see this being addressed?
- Ideally speaking, how do you envision a typical day for a kindergartner, 5th-grader, high-school senior in 20 years?
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Home School Domination 20 Jun 2012 10:04 AM (12 years ago)
Below is an infographic that was shared with me, and I thought it would be appropriate to post here.
I’m somewhat of a homeschooling fan, as I was homeschooled for 3 years, and I feel like I benefited greatly. Granted, I had an eduNazi mom for a teacher (love you mom!) and I loved school. I think the benefits would mostly in allowing me to move forward at a pace that kept me interested.. When I was excited about a topic or concept, I would get lost in learning about it.
Basically homeschooling capitalized on my piqued interest and let me chase a concept until I was bored with it. I think this facet of our public education system is completely stifled, as students are herded from class to class with specific blocks of time allocated to various curricula. .. okay.. enough of my ranting.
Created by: CollegeAtHome.com
Here is another really cool infographic that was shared with me by these same guys:
Via: OnlineEducation.net
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Your Religion is NOT Important! 14 Jun 2012 12:21 PM (12 years ago)
I was talking with a client about beliefs and he shared this powerpoint that portrays a conversation between a Brazilian theologian, Leonardo Buff, and the Dalai Lama regarding which religion is the “best”.
Please note that I have not confirmed these quotes to be in fact from the Dalai Lama. Regardless of the origin, I like the underlying message and wanted to share.
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