Interactions with people and communities, while not having an important common bond.

It’s no secret how much I respect my all of my peers in Omaha. Some of the most talented, most creative, friendliest, amazing people ever.

But as I learn more about organizations and people here I do see a thread that is often a strong bond between many of them.  And that is the Christian belief community here.

There are some really great organizations, from Core Community to inCommon.  Smart people in like minded organizations who in a very modern and effective way get together as groups  to learn and assist others.

As great as all of this is, I find myself second guessing myself.  I’m an atheist.  Often times a slightly outspoken one.  As the word itself means that I have no belief, I fear that people look at me different when they find me identifying as such.  Does my lack of belief in a higher power make people look down on me?

As I meet new people and I find they have strong beliefs I always hope that they don’t think badly of me.  The thought of losing new friends, relationships, business connections, or simply acquaintances due to this one item does worry me.

The word “atheist” is often a very strong one to people.  I’ve had people think I’m a bad person, or I have no values, or heck…  even think I worship the devil.  All it means is I do nothing.

It’s like not liking tomatoes.  Some people really love tomatoes and blog about it, grow them, and share them with others.  Those who don’t like tomatoes don’t think about it and it’s not a part of their lives in any way.  Once in a while they’re offered a tomato and they just kindly decline.  I see it absolutely no different, but I fear that others may.

What do you think?  Am I over reacting thinking about it at all, or am I justified?

Ice, Ice, Baby. Too cold.

Word to your mother.

Gabe performing Ice Ice Baby in Bellevue from Gabe Kangas on Vimeo.

Seattle trip recap

I had a nice trip to Seattle last week.  It was really for work purposes, they were sending me to F5 LTM training, but I knew I’d be able to make it into a fun vacation as well.  I had no plans when going there, but that rarely stops me from having a good time.

Thanks to Twitter, and my blog, you’re able to see a step by step recap of my whole trip by accessing my Twitter archive page for the week.  It’s really pretty cool, check it out!

I did the tourist thing, went up into the Space Needle, but that’s kind of where that ended.

I hung out with @dtorgerson and had some drinks.  We chatted about some of our ideas we’re working on, and he’s doing some great stuff.  Really exciting.  He also was kind enough to give me a ride over to the Sunset Tavern as I had planned on seeing Mark Mallman that night there.  Mallman puts on a great show, so I was excited to see him again.

Spent that night at the Sunset and talked to some pretty cool people.  A girl I met, Betty, wanted me to email her the photos I took. Plus it’s always fun to try the local brews of the area :)

Then I talked to @zria and she told me about the Capitol Hill Block Party, a music festival going on.  So Friday night I went there and met up with her.  The block party was pretty sweet.  Lots of great music and I got to mingle with my type of people.  The local music crowd.  Afterward she gave me a tour of the Capitol Hill area and then brought me to Shorty’s.  A bar that has a room full of awesome pinball machines.  It was a really great time.

The next day she brought me to Pike Place Market and I saw some dudes throw fish around.  We ate over a place overlooking the market, and got some yummy coffee.  We hung out in a cool local record store in the Queen Anne hood and later got pizza there.

There was a lot of neat stuff that I saw when there.  The first Starbucks, so much good coffee, little stores and restaraunts, you get the idea.  Typical local stuff in a big city.  But I was lucky to time the trip around the block party and be able to see a lot of music when I was there.  Built to Spill and Deerhunter were performing as well as local bands I never would have heard of otherwise.  Very cool.

As I was there for work purposes,  I had class Tues-Fri, 8-5.  It was a really good class, but I did fly through it.  I came off as the “know it all” in the class and people gave me dirty looks.  Oh well.  It gave me a chance to work with a couple instructors and talk about things that I do and would like to do with their products and really get an insight into the company.  Very worthwhile, F5 does very well with their training.

I put a photo set up on Flickr of all the photos I took on the trip, so check it out if you’re at all interested.  Some neat stuff.

Omaha Entertainment Awards

Wendy Townley reminded me that this weekend is the Omaha Entertainment Awards Showcase in Benson! Here are the artists I hope to see and at what times. I probably won’t make all that I hope, or maybe just one day of the two (Friday probably), but here you go!

Friday:
8:55 Barley St: Answer Team
10:15 Sydney: The Filter Kings
11:00 Sydney: Shiver Shiver

Saturday:
11:35 Burke’s: Black Squirrels
11:20 Barley St: Platte River Rain

My interview about Retweet Thursday

Well who would have thought?  The fine people over at Silicon Prairie News were interested in talking to me about the weirdest meme to ever hit Twitter (aside from #MufasaMonday I suppose), #retweet_thursday.

They told me they weren’t sure who was behind it at first, but figured out it was out of Omaha somewhere, so they pinpointed it to me.  I never really made it public that the bot was run by me, but I wasn’t really hiding the fact either :)

They came to me asking if I’d be willing to tell my story about why it came about, what the deal with the @RT_Thursday account was, and how it all worked.

So take a stop over and check out the article and video interview:

Retweet This: @GabeK Behind @RT_Thursday

And while you’re there check out all of the other awesome posts about what’s going on in the Omaha area.  There’s a great interview with Rahul Gupta that you won’t want to miss.