“I figure just because I am capitalizing on some FREE terrible coffee at Lowe’s and solving a problem with my cedar deck at home, it doesn’t mean I can’t pretend this is just like coffee you might get at a conference.” -Kolmer reported to Linked In what he had said on Facebook:
It was reported that instead of traveling to DEVELEARN in Las Vegas, David Kolmer stayed home: hung vintage glass LED lights on his home, purchased items at a hardware store (Where he also scored a few free cups of coffee), started a large fire in the backyard, and then went camping in the cold. Kolmer also reported removing skeletons from his front yard.
Vintage-Style Glass LEDs
VIDEO FOOTAGE
Safety is our Number 1 Priority.
Team DAVELEARN takes great pride in the level of security we provide at our events. “Dave is a fantastic security guard. He is beyond professional.” Recounted the team’s leader, who is named Dave.
Tree Trimming Skill Practice
“Trimming of trees with chainsaws was a very large part of the DAVELEARN event”, recalled its single participant, David Kolmer.
Lighter Fluid Safety Training
Kolmer also reported “Starting a big fire out in the back yard.” as something that happened during the scheduled events of the Davelearn Conference.
The following day, Kolmer admired the progress the fire had made on the stump. Just after that, a neighbor called him and asked if he knew he had burning leaves in the yard, and he shared that he did and thanked the neighbor for the call.
Tent Camping Simulation
Kolmer overshared with his concerned neighbor one the phone, and stated that they had a fire because they had been camping in the cold.
After discussing how cold it was outside that night, Kolmer reported that he will be working with the BALSA Foundation, providing learning sessions for young entrepreneurs on Brand and Marketing via Podcasting and Videocasting (Vodcast or Vidcast).
Announced collaboration with The Balsa Foundation
Video Footage
At the end of the interview, Kolmer shared that they had started the “week of intensive learning and confernece-esque activites.” By packing up the plastic skeletons back into their plastic bags, they live in. The skeletons were stowed away between the basement shelves and the floorboards at the time of the interview.
The conference of one, that might have never happened, or maybe it did. Reports are not clear; there certainly were a lot of pictures.
Hello! Thank you for reading, and I am sorry I have been a stranger. If you follow any of my social media feeds, you might have seen that I launched a Podcast last Friday. The launch was a success and included more than just a Podcast. I would like to share my experience starting a Podcast with a Newsletter and Marketing plan.
WELCOME TO PLAY
Do No Skip Analysis
Let’s be honest. There are a lot of podcasts out there, and the competition has just raised the bar. Instead of competing against my neighbor like I would have in 2004, I am competing with celebrity superstars from Conan O’Brien to Monica Lewinsky. This has been a slow progression, but the landscape has really changed over the last couple years.
This is why it is so important to really think out what you want your show to be about. It needs to be something you love, but it also needs to be niche and novel. The only way to pull listeners’ attention away from TV actors discussing what it was like to make their sitcom is to discuss something you really know or really like.
Which “Host” Platform?
Where you host your Podcast is not all that important to your listeners because you can link all the episodes as sound files via RSS to other platforms. That being said, each platform will offer you a unique experience around price, analytics, and storage.
My main criterion was unlimited storage for free. I don’t mind paying a bit to make the show, but I don’t want to pay forever to have it hosted because eventually I would probably end up stopping paying, not to mention I just do not want to spend that much money.
At the end, I had it narrowed down to Red Circle or Spotify. I love Red Circle as a host, and I really think I want to have another show on there soon, but Spotify recently acquired Anchor, and that brand has so much weight to it. At a certain point, I realized I was using my decision on which platform to choose to put off the launch of my show. So I just went with Spotify because it is HUGE, Free, and has unlimited storage. The last piece was that the analytics from Spotify are certified, so it would be easier to accept sponsors if that ever happens… You never know!
How Do I Record?
I started out using Adobe Podcast, and I really like that platform for recording podcasts. The interface is beautiful and intuitive. Unfortunately, the app crashed a lot, and I even lost some of my recordings. Also, the AI voice enhancer sometimes made me sound like I was someone else, and some of my editors even thought I had a third person on my show. I was shocked that Adobe did not perform, and that really is a first for me. I have grown to respect the Adobe brand, and I love it. Photoshop, Premiere, and Adobe Audition are all environment staples. I even use Adobe Audition to craft the more complex audio for the GAMELAYER show itself. I feel like Adobe Podcast has potential but it has yet to realize it.
I ended up going with Riverside.fm, and I absolutely love it. I am on the lowest paid tier, and the only thing I wish I had was downloadable transcripts (something I definitely want to have), but I think I have some other ideas on how to get those.
Marketing
This is a topic that I wanted to streamline on the cheap. I ended up using a free Buffer account, which lets me connect to up to 3 Social Channels. That’s not a lot, but I am thinking about where I want to be anyway. So far, I am at a branded channel at Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. However, I am not that jazzed about being on Facebook, and I might just post links on the top of that page and abandon it for Blue Sky. If you are interested, I would recommend following the Instagram because I am mostly going to produce REELS from the show. (In addition to the Podcast of course, which I share in the next section.)
(The most recent reels appear at the bottom of this post.)
Another thing I have done that I need to build out more is look into SubStack. I was going to park all of my transcripts there, but I have found it can do so much more, like generate a newsletter, build a community, and even have paywalls for monetized content. I have hosted that at www.gamelayer.fm
Links to the Show
Last but not least, I would like to share the apps that I have chosen to include in the show so far. Please reach out to me on LinkedIn if you want to see this on another app or if you want to be on GAMELAYER!. In this section, I will paste unique versions of how I can share my Podcast using this WordPress web page.
Pocket Cast
Pocket Cast is quickly becoming my favorite Podcast APP, second only to Apple Podcasts.
Apple Podcast
You can never overlook the app that started it all, Apple Podcasts! (I have not found a way to embed the player on WordPress, but I did get a QR code.)
Next up, we have Spotify, which now owns Anchor and seems to be the largest host for the moment. All the stars are posting their shows there, which really lends itself to longevity. Some features are missing for the small fish like me, but to be honest, I just don’t care.
This last one is just fun. It is an RSS feed developed right in WordPress, so that’s neat! It is not a stand-alone Podcast player, so it only works here on this web page, but I like it because it showcases how easy it is to just paste your RSS feed somewhere and create a Podcast player! So fun!
135 ALIVE | Learning Design Between Vision and Constraints | Destery Hildenbrand –
GAMELAYER
SummaryIn this engaging conversation, David Kolmer interviews Destery Hildenbrand, a learning technology consultant, about the intricacies of design and technology in the context of educational tools. In this, the final episode of season 1, they discuss the challenges faced when working with emerging technologies, particularly the frustrations of coding and the creative process. Destery shares insights on how the vision for a project can sometimes clash with technical limitations, leading to a struggle between creativity and practicality. The dialogue also touches on the importance of adaptability and the willingness to learn from failures in order to achieve a successful outcome in design projects.As the conversation progresses, they delve into the impact of AI on content creation and the democratization of technology, exploring how new tools can enhance creativity while also raising concerns about authenticity and acceptance within professional circles. Destery emphasizes the need for a balance between maintaining a creative vision and navigating the realities of project constraints, ultimately advocating for a mindset that embraces innovation and collaboration in the learning technology space.Alternate Reality TitlesNavigating the Creative Process in Learning TechnologyBalancing Vision and Reality in DesignSound bites"That's a good question, Kolmer.""You're either all in or you're not.""What's the big deal with being all in on AI?"Chapters00:00 Introduction and Setting the Scene02:25 Creative Process and Design Approach02:40 Challenges in Design and Technology07:40 Balancing Vision and Technical Constraints14:42 The Role of Autonomy in Creative Work17:35 The Impact of AI on Content Creation26:08 Embracing New Tools and Overcoming Judgment28:24 GAMELAYER CLOSERKeywordslearning technology, design process, emerging technology, AI in education, creative process, coding challenges, instructional design, project management, technology consultantGAMELAYER Alive Gameified Podcast Creation. Recorded live on site at GAMICON 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is a mini-series that highlights experts in the field of game learning, simple practitioners, and even those who are just curious, who happen to be at the conference. These high signal micro-episodes will be released daily, January 2026.This miniseries itself is organized through a card game that promotes conversations through self-hugging. Self-hugging is the aspect or tendency of a designer to create learning environments or artifacts that they themselves would enjoy consuming. This is seen as a negative practice in the game-learning industry. However, for a discussion, self-hugging is actually pretty useful. In this game, practitioners will identify with one of five cards. The cards are laid out on a spectrum of potential personas. Starting with the scientist on one and the Mystic on the other, after selecting their persona card, the speaker will be guided to choose one of three topic cards. The topic of building, the topic of measuring out outcomes, or the topic of the future of the L&D industry.CREDITSGAMELAYER RADIO is found wherever you get your podcasts. Transcripts and swag at Gamelayer.fmTheme Music by Caleb Willitz. calebwillitz.com/ calebwillitz.bandcamp.com/musicPODCAST APP LINKS♥️ Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gamelayer/id1804386590♣️ Pocket Casts https://pca.st/ch0fdeon♦️ Spotify https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gamelayer♠️ Amazon Music https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2a617d81-2f96-43a3-9938-7f0b2ad7e49d/gamelayer🎱 YOUTUBE Podcast http://www.youtube.com/@GAMELAYERPODSOCIAL MEDIAINSTAGRAM! https://www.instagram.com/gamelayer.fm/LINKED IN! https://linkedin.com/company/gamelayerfmFACEBOOKhttps://www.facebook.com/gamelayer.fm/YOUTUBEhttps://www.youtube.com/@GAMELAYERfm#GAMICON, #GAMELAYER, #Game, #Gamified, #Kolmer, #DAVIDKOLMER, #GAMIFICATION, #GAMELEARNING, #IMPROVEMENTDAVE
I would like to close out by saying thanks for reading and post a widget that claims it will continuously update with the most recent Instagram Reels. So if you trust Good Ole’ Improvement Dave more than Social Media (Which I think you should.) you can bookmark this page and come back to it weekly to see what I’m up to. Or, of course, you could go to GAMELAYER.FM, but I am not thinking the Reels will live there at this point.
The Sandbox Analogy: Embracing Unexpected Learning
Yesterday, my kids were playing in their sandbox. The weekend before, I had noticed that my daughter and her friend had shoveled all of the sand up to the slotted planked “walls” of the sandbox, and a lot of it had fallen out into the playground area. Yesterday, my kids filled that area with water, played on the slide, and got covered in mud. Now, I built that sandbox intending for my kids to sit in it, shovel sand into buckets, and play as if they were at the beach. How they chose to play in the sandbox doesn’t align with my original intention. And that’s completely alright.
AnInstructional Designer’s Journey: A Call Center Experience
When I first started exploring instructional design, I was working as a training facilitator at a call center for a popular credit card company. I reached out to an established instructional designer working at the flagship office in Ohio, to learn more about the🆔role. They shared a project addressing one of the most complicated phone call scenarios for credit granting—a situation where identifying the next course of action was particularly challenging, especially for newcomers who wanted to avoid legal missteps.
An E-Learning Solution That Became More
The designer’s solution was a basic e-learning module in a SCORM file. It featured a branching scenario that guided users through the call, complete with cute static cartoon characters. Intended as a classroom learning experience, it evolved into something more. Learners began using it as an interactive job aid during actual calls, asking clients for brief holds while they loaded up the e-learning module and then consulted the e-learning for guidance throughout the call. The instructional designer saw this as a complete success, as the artifact had transformed into a practical, continually used tool. The form of the learning artifact remained the same but the function or usage of the tool had pivoted.
Rethinking Learning Artifact Design and Usage
In learning and development, we often focus on creating artifacts that suit our own learning preferences. This natural and selfish process has been coined “Self-Hugging.” That is making learning content that we ourselves would consume easily. However, it’s crucial to design learning experiences that work for everyone, regardless of their ability or learning preference. The function of a learning artifact should be left up to the learner. Too often, we dictate how learners should use these tools, limiting their potential.
Embracing Learner-Driven Exploration
Just as children might choose to shovel all the sand out of a sandbox—not the intended use, but still valid—learners should be free to explore and use learning artifacts in ways that work best for them. This exploration can lead to valuable realizations. For instance, children might learn why keeping sand in the sandbox is important through their own experiences, rather than being told arbitrary rules. So there is a connection here between the corporate learner and the child playing in the box of sand…
Maybe they want to shovel all of the sand out of the sandbox. That’s not how I as an adult view correct play with the sandbox, but does that matter? Does that mean we can no longer consider what they are doing to be “Play?” They might find themself in a place where all of the sand is no longer in the sandbox and now it’s mixed with the wood chips, and it would be nearly impossible to get only the sand back in. Now they can’t play in the sandbox. At that point, they might realize that shoveling all of the sand out of the sandbox isn’t what they should’ve done; IF they want to play with sand in the sandbox.
The keyword here is “realization.” Simply because they did something wrong does not mean that the learning experience has failed in fact, quite the opposite. The participant will have gotten to a point where now they know why it needs to be done in a certain way because they have learned from their own firsthand experience that there is a rule for a reason. This will be 99% more effective than if you had simply told them, “Hey we do it like this, this is just how we do it because we’ve always done it like this.” In other words, there will be actual behavioral change, and moving forward, the culture will naturally align with the policy in a fortified way.
Embracing Learner-Driven Exploration
When learners have firsthand experience, they understand the reasons behind certain practices. This approach is far more effective than simply dictating rules without context. It leads to actual behavioral change and cultural alignment with policies. By allowing learners to explore, make mistakes, and come to their own unique realizations, we create more impactful and lasting learning experiences.
I recently conducted a test recording using Riverside.FM, and it exceeded my expectations. The platform asked dynamic, open-ended questions that really got me talking. Although it was just a demo, I had a blast creating it, and the end result provided a great description of my upcoming radio show, #GAMELAYER.
Riverside.fm Test Recording
Why Publish Unrehearsed Content?
Initially, I had no plans to publish my first experience with Riverside.FM. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its capabilities. It offered high-definition recordings for multiple participants and provided a range of video editing tools and open-source music. While I couldn’t add transitions to images or videos, I could fade music in and out. Overall, it was impressive for a free platform. As someone who loves using free software (much to the dismay of my computer engineer friends), I was thrilled.
What’s Next?
I’ve been working hard on editing the first episode of #GAMELAYER, which features a series of phone tag audio messages sent via text. I’m torn between using the original low-fi recordings to emphasize the casual nature of phone chats or enhancing the audio for a more professional sound. I think I’ll publish the high-quality version as a podcast and host the low-resolution version on the transcript page of my Substack newsletter.
Gamelayer.fm
I recently purchased the domain Gamelayer.fm but haven’t successfully linked it to my Substack account. Instead, it redirects to Substack’s main page, which isn’t very useful. I’m considering building a landing page with Parallax animations on Amazon AWS, but I’ve read that the process might be similar to linking to a Substack account, which could be just as challenging. For now, I have some ideas, but they’re still in development.
Build It
Currently, my focus is on recording the show. However, I might need to reach out to experts to help launch the webpage. Alternatively, I can let the podcast distribute across platforms via Red Circle for now and work on the webpage after the show’s official launch.
“All that matters is that you are making something you love, to the best of your ability, here and now.”
I recently made a short simply thanking people who are supporting me and updating the world on what I am working on. I posted it on LinkedInhere.
The Post:
THANKS all Around today! 🙏 🫂 Thanks to Matthew Pierce 🎦 for sharing the wisdom of just hitting the play button. Thanks to Betty Dannewitz 📻 for getting me on the RADIO SHOW train. Thanks to Paul Smith ♟️ for talking about his “labor of love”, making games.
The Outcome
People who do not follow my blog liked and commented on the post. People in my organization gave it a thumbs up and a heart. My mentor sent me a text and told me the post was very nice. When we give credit where credit is due, and we say thank you to those who have helped us, we build out a network. We build community.
“If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?”
I am getting warmed up to start a new project. The project is about play. It is a podcast that celebrates all the ways that we play. It focuses on the science of play and the quest of learning. It is about enjoyment, it is about deep learning, and it is about gamified learning environments. I basically stopped recording VLOG videos at some point. I basically stopped writing on this blog to complete the hall bathroom I was updating, and I plan on outlining that process on this blog.
The first Fun Project
This is A quick recap video that I captured with my updated Podcasting studio and then posted directly to Linked In with Minimal edits. A “fun Project” is what I called the file. I give thanks to the people who are helping me grow and announce my new show, GAMELAYER. I say that it will launch on Halloween of 2025, but it might launch sooner, maybe even as soon as Spring Break 2025. I also share another side project I have started with my dad around building financial independence through Real Estate. This will start as a video podcast that develops into eLearning coursework. MUSIC: ANI KUNI Polo and Pan
I had just got off an introductory call with a guest on the new show I am piecing together and I was fired up. So I decided to record a VLOG post. The radio show is called GAMELAYER.
Fun Feels Good
I have had fun dipping back into my experience as a sound designer. I am feeling the creative process seeping back up like sap from my roots. It is really revving me up and by the end of the day wearing me out!
Developing the GAMELAYER Cover Art
I have created iterations of the cover art in the web-based design app canva.com and I’d like to share what I had downloaded of those here: [Click on the arrow on the right to scroll through the design iterations.]
What’s Next
I might just keep recording these short “Fun Project” videos where I dump out all the emotions and the thoughts I am having around putting together a Radio Show. They have been well received. I will keep posting them here as a means of tracking them. I am going to get busy making a Podcast now and I might be shownig less love to my VLOG newsletter here at Improvementdave.com, but I’ll be around.
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate your time and attention. Please reach out to me if you would like to be on my radio show. We all play and we all have a perspective to share. Leave a comment related to how you play. What do you play? Do you play music? Do you play games? Do you play with artmaking? How do you express yourself?
Love
Dave
“Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you’re not.
It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, “I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk or you’re not.
It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, “I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk or you’re not.
We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output.
The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”
Unless we live in a monastery, we all have busy lives, and it’s important to find time to do less.
1. Monastery or Mayhem? ~Finding Balance in the Game of Life
So, just to be clear, I do not work at a monastery, and I have chosen to generate offspring. So for me, it is crucial to build in time for doing less. It’s crucial to build activities into our schedule that don’t really have any purpose other than leisure, fun, relaxation, or recharging our batteries. Last month, I took some time off from work because my daughter wanted to ride the carousel. So I booked time into my schedule to do that, and we entered the game-layer.
2. Quest for Gas: The Pre-Game Adventure
We were riding the merry-go-round, but let me back up. I picked her up from school, and we were driving to the park that had a historic merry-go-round. I needed to stop and get gas. At the time, I had already started recording for this podcast. I was playing an audio text message game of chess with my friend Sarah. She had expressed anxiety about being on a podcast show, and when I asked her to record a message that says “play chess,” she ended up sending me a three-minute recording about how she was doing that day and slowly phased in the statement I was seeking. Naturally, I just texted her back, thanked her, and then created my own audio message, thus beginning our chess game podcast via text message audio recording.
3. The ICEE Expedition: Fueling Fun
As I was driving to get gas, I got out of the car and recorded a message back to Sarah. Then I went in with my daughter and bought her an ICEE, which is a very special treat in our world. I sent the audio message, not knowing that in two days my new iPhone would automatically delete it. We went to Faust Park, and I purchased three tickets each to ride the carousel repeatedly. I made videos of the carousel, and later my daughter commented on how we weren’t in the videos. I created videos about the firsthand experience because I was in the game layer; I was focused on the process and the environment more than the faces of the people around me.
4. Emotions on Replay: The Carousel Connection
What struck me the most about the experience of riding the carousel with my daughter was obviously the emotion on her face, but that was for my soul. I didn’t want a record of that to be posted on my blog or captured in my podcast. I did take a lot of pictures of her, and there is some video of her riding the carousel, but I’m not going to share that footage here, and that’s intentional.
5. Soundtrack of Play: The Symphony of Joy
The reason this moment struck me to my core is because I was creating time for fun. I was planning play into my schedule. What struck me the most about the experience was mostly the sound.
There was the canned music in the beginning, which was overpowered by the mechanical sounds of the ancient carousel lumbering across its hub. The second round on the carousel also had canned music, but it was a different song—maybe a better song. But the third round was the best. The operator fired up the old Orchestrion, a mechanical instrument slightly bigger than a piano that can synthesize an entire orchestra with reels, xylophone, real drums, real chimes, and even real trumpets.
(Now I wanted to call that a glockenspiel which does seem like a better name, but apparently a glockenspiel is just a xylophone with metal bars.)
This is the experience that I had come for—not spinning around on an old, ancient wooden horse—although I did enjoy that significantly. It was the machine—the small machine that didn’t dish out a synthesized audio recording from a hard drive. It played; it had analog motors with sticks that struck objects. It was a physical representation of the GAMELAYER.
6. Rainy Day Revelations: A Walk Back to Base
After we got off the merry-go-round, my daughter and I were outside walking back to the van in the rain. I noticed a different energy about her. She was commenting nonchalantly about the pavement and the grass. And she turned around and looked at the building that contained the massive artifact of play. She said something that, to a six-year-old, is a comedic masterpiece: something about those people getting to live in there—that must be so fun! I agreed with her even though I knew I wasn’t understanding that statement on the level she was.
7. Heart-to-Heart Co-op: Building Bonds Through Play
My daughter turned and told me that she loved me, and I told her I loved her too, because I do. She asked me to carry her, which is basically her way of asking for a hug. So I carried her through the rain back to the van, and we spoke openly and freely, and our hearts connected through our words. And in the tone of her voice, I could tell that I had made a difference. I had put her needs ahead of my needs; in that way, we became better friends—we became closer. I built trust with her; I made time for her, I created empty space so that she could play.
8. The Missing AudioQuest: ~ Will Sarah Save Our Game?
Oh, and the audio recordings that my phone deleted? I think Sarah has those—or at least she said she does! We’ll see if she makes the choice to share them back with me so that I can add them into our audio-chat-message cat phone tag game of chess radio show episode of GAMELAYER.
Thanks Perplexity
I would like to personally thank Perplexity.ai for helping me shape this up for readability without changing my message, writing style, nor tone.
“What’s the passcode? Carry me. Carry weary.” [What I mean to say is I want a hug from you daddy.]
Near the end of 2024, I developed an idea to create a blog post celebrating all the achievements from the year. I wanted to pause and recognize all the accomplishments I had achieved. As I reflected, I thought about things I had written or not written about throughout the year that I could highlight.
However, instead of actually writing the blog post, I paused and spent an enormous amount of time with my family, you can read about that and see the glorious pictures at the end of this post under Family Time Adventure.
Think about moments you could have celebrated but didn’t. How can you make celebration a regular part of your daily routine?
Professional Growth
We recently had significant turnover at work, and an engagement expertise facilitator, Tanya Zion came in via AAIM HR group to help us navigate some big transitions. The sessions were insightful, blending professional and personal development with focus groups and facilitated sessions that resembled group therapy. One message that Zion emphasized repeatedly resonated with me:
It is important that you remember to pause and celebrate after a significant accomplishment.
Often, we’re so focused on fixing problems and completing tasks that we forget to celebrate how far we’ve come. That idea stuck with me throughout the year and inspired this blog post.
Reflection on an Eventful Year
I want to pause and recall some of the achievements I accomplished in 2024. If you get anything from this post it should be that No accomplishment is too small to celebrate. You don’t have to buy yourself a car or go to the islands on a boat. Stop, take a deep breath, and shout, “Yeah, I did that!”
It’s easy to dwell on missed goals or failures. It’s challenging to be proud of achievements and celebrate the wins. Completing the tile work in our bathroom was one of those wins. As I admired the finished product, my five-year-old daughter walked in and exclaimed, “Wow, it looks so good, Daddy. Are you proud?”
I responded, “Yes, honey. I’m proud. This was hard work. It wasn’t easy for me, but I did it anyway. I finished the job.”
More Thoughts
Reflecting on 2024 reminds me of the value of pausing to appreciate our progress. We often achieve things that would have been unimaginable to our past selves. It’s important to recognize and celebrate these moments—not just for ourselves but to inspire those around us.
A contact/ mentor of mine named, Caitlin Johnson, talks about making our goals into quests. Her mission is to explore gamifying not only business strategy but our personal/professional goals. This concept works perfectly with my ideas of using Novelty to Bend Time and to me extends into the concept of artmaking as a process of religious practice.
Here’s to celebrating 2024 and looking forward to new milestones in 2025! Thank you if you made it this far, take a moment to scroll down and view the absolute novelty of my last 2 weeks of 2024, and why I chose to write this post to open up 2025, and not close 2024.
Family Time Adventure
So, first things last. I want to share what I did instead of writing this blog post before 2025 started. I attended family gatherings for the holidays, played video games with my kids, tiled and grouted a bathroom, and took several impromptu vacations.
In retrospect, the novelty of those 2 weeks could have filled five months of a normal year. When my kids were meant to return to school, several snow days extended the joy of that time. The past three weeks alone have given me plenty to celebrate.
Cooking and Crafting
Creepy Tunnel
A random adventure I generated in the moment was a hike on the infamous Bootlegger’s Trail. We even found that creepy old-time brick tunnel that our pathologist neighbor Jim had warned us about!
Gravity Paintings
At one point my kids asked if we could make gravity paintings like Daddy does. I said Let’s do that and use the old ceramic tiles we found on Uncle Mark’s farm! #Novelty!
Art in the Woods
I kept seeing advertisements for a local light installation so I randomly invited friends of the family and we all went out. I took a lot of video of the Light Cycles show, and I will post that below the pictures!
Video of Art in the Woods
Here is some video of that show.
Train to Germantown!
Somewhere in the middle of the winter break from school, we took a train ride to a local treasure: Hermann, Missouri. Hermann is a small town in rural Missouri that was built by German immigrants in 1837 who initiated grape growing for wine in the rolling MO hills, but more importantly here AMTRAK goes there. So we bought a round trip and exposed the kids to trains!
Thai Style for New Years!
We were really in the mood for the Thai version of Korean BBQ. In Thai, this is called MU-GRA-TA หมูกระทะ. We have an electric version that also simulates the infamous Chinese “HOT POT.”
In the pictures above there is a handsome devil who also happens to be bald. He is known as The Bobby. During this New Year’s Eve party, he mentioned a great meteor shower that would fly across the sky for days. That is important later when he decides to return to bed instead of going out in sub-zero temperatures to see the meteor shower covered by clouds.
4 Foot Porcelain Tile!
So, I haven’t said much about this on this blog, but it has taken over my FaceBook account. I have been laying tile in our hall bath. So, the hall bath started leaking. I tried to fix it and then it didn’t hold so I just ripped out the whole room and expanded the ceiling. The main highlight for me of the last few weeks of the year was completing all the tile and grout in that hall bathroom project, and preparing it for a glass door installation.
If you can’t tell from the pictures that was a pretty big project. I listened to the Case 63 podcast when prepping the floor. and then I listened to it again when laying the tile! It felt like I was a new person with a new task. Listen to the podcast if you don’t know why that is awesome!
Listen to Case 63!
OK, Yes Betty, you are right. AAAH, Thank you to the great Betty Dannewitz for recommending this amazing Podcast that I listened to back-to-back in 2 days on 2 separate occasions. (OK OK). …And.. Betty is my #1. (Apart from my family.)
Seriously that podcast is RAD.
New Years had passed but we still had a whole weekend before school and work started back up!
The Final Weekend
So do you recall Bobby the Bald, that handsome devil? We had plans to wake up at 2:30AM (much thanks to Bobby) to view a meteor shower, but it was cloudy when we woke up and our friends (Ahem Bobby) canceled on us. So, to celebrate completing the tile and grout work, we spontaneously got in the car at three in the morning to watch a meteor shower. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, instead of turning back, we drove across several states to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Planning as We Went
We had no plan and it was an amazing vacation. On the way, we booked a hotel and spent just a single day in the city.
Next, we went to the aquarium, petted stingrays, and saw sharks, sea turtles, and a fascinating creature I had never heard of: the stingray shark. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t a robot, but it looked impressively real.
And I also took some other pictures at the aquarium…
Who is Hungry?
This was technically not in Ohio, It was across the river in Newport, Kentucky. Right next door to the German Brewhause Hofbräuhaus! Perfect!
Ice Skating
Our hotel room in downtown Cincinnati overlooked Fountain Square, where there was an ice-skating rink.
Even though we were practically running on fumes from waking up at 2:30 a.m. Central Time, we went ice-skating. The ice was so rough it looked like a layer of fresh snow had fallen on it. Despite the poor conditions, it was the best ice-skating experience of my life.
Keep on Ramblin’
The next day, we woke up at 2:30 a.m. again and raced back to St. Louis, Missouri, to avoid a snowstorm. We didn’t avoid it, though, and drove for miles on snow-covered highways. That in itself was an adventure, but the Odyssey didn’t let us down!
We Need an Igloo in All of this Snow
When we got back the kids had snow days so we went sledding again and started on an igloo mad out of frozen water balloons.. That didn’t pan out like we had hoped.
However, Thanks so an idea from Kassy Laborie, we did manage to salvage some of the failed water ballon bricks into some lovely ice luminaries!
Think about moments you could have celebrated but didn’t. How can you make celebration a regular part of your daily routine?
Thank You
Thanks for getting this far. That last point was again just how thankful I am to have such a warm and supportive family! The journey is always better when you travel with those you love! I do a word each year, and I started with thinking I would use Balance and then thought about Action, and then Balanced Action, but now I am thinking the way you find balanced action is via #NOVELTY … It is time travel after all. Novelty just might be the way forward on the quest for improvement. Be sure to check back in to see how it goes!
How I Broke the Seal on Podcasting Improvement Dave – David Kolmer
In 2023, I revived this blog, Improvement Dave, which I originally started in 2017 while earning my Master’s Degree in Educational Technology but had since abandoned. Why did I bring it back? The answer is simple: I attended a session by Betty Dannewitz at DEVLEARN 2023 on podcasting. Her session not only gave me the confidence to think about starting a podcast but also provided logical steps to follow. Her first piece of advice? “Just keep writing.” I thought, Well, that’s easy—I can just pick up where I left off with my blog from grad school.
I posted the above passage into Adobe Firefly AI and it gave me these images:
Keep On Writing
What I didn’t realize was how much this simple act of writing would impact my personal and professional growth, as well as my sense of identity and self-worth. From participating in daily push-up challenges (Push-Ups for St. Jude) to learning 3D modeling on Adobe in just two weeks (30-Day 3D Model Challenge), writing more turned out to be excellent advice.
Feeling inspired, I reached out to Betty as both a fan and a student to let her know how much she had motivated me. She responded with kindness and even became an ally and friend. Emboldened, I pitched her a complex concept for a show exploring how the musical Hamilton relates to Learning and Development. To my disappointment, she politely declined, saying she didn’t want to open that particular can of worms.
I am a Blackstar Just Come With Me We Were Born Upside-Down I’m a Blackstar
A Hero Must Fail
At first, this rejection stung. I felt vulnerable and as though I had failed. However, after some reflection, I realized that the only person truly letting me down was me.
So, I returned to writing, regrouped, and started building a sound studio as I added an office to my home. (Building My Sound Booth). I used my undergrad knowledge of stage lighting to hang lights in my office and began vlogging alongside blogging, creating videos of myself speaking.
I kept finding ways to improve and grow. I strengthened the Improvement Dave brand I had created back in 2017 into a visual brand and a creative identity.
Eventually, the tables turned. Betty invited me to appear on her show, If You Ask Betty. For some, this might just be another item on their calendar, but for me, it was a milestone. I had reached a point where I could feel proud of my progress. Everyone’s path is unique, and while I sometimes take my accomplishments for granted, others view them as remarkable or even unattainable. The effort I had invested in developing my writing voice, building my brand, and learning new skills paid off. I was on the show. I prepared extensively, and from my perspective, it went pretty well.
This blog post celebrates that achievement and curates the content that came from this experience.
Highlights
The Teaser I Was Featured In (My favorite artifact): LinkedIn Post
The Podcast Episode: “I’m Just Ken” (Or use player below.)
Bonus Content
When Betty shared her favorite part of “Barbie” (2023) Film, I just couldn’t resist making a cartoon of it. (NSFW)
This video is not for children if you can not tell by the cover image.
Conclusion
So, I did it—I got on the show, and it all happened so quickly. I gave it 100%, even if some people may have been aggravated by my takes on social equity and gender as a social construct. I’ve moved past that now. No matter what you do, about 30% of people will dislike it, 30% will love it, and 30% won’t even know it happened. The key is to keep moving forward. Either way, I got a new friend out of the deal so it’s a win.
Next, I’m focusing on getting out there more, taking more chances, worrying less, and finding a way to launch my own podcast.
I am working on a thread on my blog focusing on things I can celebrate this year. This post, Why You Should Present at a Conference started as a celebration of the fact that I had an opportunity to speak at a conference and I revised it to be framed around reasons why we should all present at conferences.
Inspired to Be Myself
I recently was inspired (again) by Kassy Laborie. This time she was speaking on a podcast (called Business Breakdown by Al Dea Listen Here: https://lnkd.in/eAckUwmf) about her background in learning in development and how she reached a point where her reputation preceded her. While she shared her background I kept thinking, I have been there, that happened to me at work as a trainer or yes, that was me. Now I am not as far along on my path as I am ready to leave my independent contractor work to reinvent myself as a Keynote speaker but maybe I never will, maybe that is not my journey. I bring all of this up because of a personal story that Kassy shared in this interview. She was rocking her pressed red pants with her matching red kicks and as she put it, “I mean, I looked good!”. Someone approached her and stated, “Ah, we do not wear red pants at this company.”
Kassy reflected on how this made her feel small. How it felt like she was not seen for who she is. It made her feel like she didn’t belong. It made her feel like she was not in the right place. She had a choice. She could start wearing black pants and conform to the dominating overbearing culture she found herself in, or she could move on and find a space that was a better fit. Luckily for her (and for the rest of us I reckon) she chose the latter to move on. To keep on ramblin’ to keep on keepin’ on.
She done good, she even made Woody Guthrie smile…
Reminder of the Inspiration
This morning when I got into the office it was a normal work-in-the-office day. I had already had 2 cups of regular coffee at home and I was going to brew a whole pot of decaf to drink throughout the day. I ran into a colleague Erika Teneyck who was wearing RED PANTS, and it took me right back to Kassy’s story on the podcast. This illustrates how we as humans resonate with stories, but more on that later. I said Erika you are wearing RED PANTS and I am wearing my BLUE PANTS, can we take a picture!? Luckily there was another creative coworker (Michael Bollenbach, MA, MFA ) in the work kitchen who holds a Master of Fine Arts AND a Master of Arts to take the picture. He begrudgingly murmured that he did not want to take our picture but I insisted. While Mike took the picture he commented on how he had a previous role where they insisted every employee had to wear black pants.
I had Blue Pants and my Work Buddy had on RED PANTS!
So, more about Erika. When I started in my current role, we had a Holiday Party at a local brewery you might have heard of called Budweiser. It was a fun evening, but I was a bit anxious because I had not met anyone in person yet. I had just started at the company in 2021 and we were still remote. It was the time when many companies were still transitioning back into office from the COVID-19 pandemic. (We even had a mask decorating contest and I won for the ugliest mask, although in retrospect they shared it should have been most bizarre or creative.)
Die Hard is a Christmas Movie. PERIOD
OK, so my point. Let’s get to the point. My point is that Erika was at the party and she made me feel welcome. She talked to me even though I was the new guy with a very weird mask. She welcomed me even though I told her that owning a boat was a bad financial decision and I perceived it as a liability, not an asset. Then later she wore red pants and reminded me of Kassie’s strong lesson.
Broadcast my Inspiration
Now, it is worth mentioning that, Erika has her bachelor’s AND master’s in Art History and has used that to enter into the space of organizing and curating data analytics where I work. That is something worth celebrating in and of itself. 🥳
It also touches on a topic that I am toying around with for the Podcast I am crafting. How creatives, or people who are perceived as creatives, can work their way into a situation of being gainfully employed. Or in other words discussions on how creatively minded people can generate income through as opposed to despite their inventive tendencies. I am in the storming stage. I have not ironed out the details nor fleshed out the concept. I am taking my time to settle on a topic that I feel confident I will want to speak about from the heart for years to come to an audience that resonates with my true self.
“Treat every small victory like you just won the Superbowl.” -Lewis Howes
Improvement Dave 