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More Useful and Interesting Things

Posted on January 19, 2013

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It’s the weekend so many of you are probably out doing weekend-type things. Good for you. Enjoy yourselves.

In the interest of enjoyment, or in some cases entertainment or information to enhance your lives, here’s another list of useful and/or interesting things I’ve found this week.

• I don’t know about you, but I loved arcades as a kid. In fact, I worked in one for almost a year while I was in High School. Games like Asteroids, Missile Command, Galaga and Pac-Man helped shape my childhood. It also cost me a hell of a lot of quarters.

But that’s okay, it was great fun and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Sadly, it seems future generations may not have the same opportunity for fun as I did. The Verge spells out the situation in a must-read article for anyone who loved these places as a kid.

• Once again the folks at Lifehacker come through with some good info. This time it’s what to do before and after a disaster.

• Do you blog? Do you have an iPhone or other iOS device? If so, you may want to check out this great piece of software called Poster. I’m trying it out now and so far, I like it. You might like it too.

• Tired of paying through the nose (or other orifice) for a wireless plan and smartphone? If so, you might want to check out Republic Wireless. It’s a very interesting approach and something I’m going to be looking into in more detail soon.

That’s it for now. Once again, enjoy your weekend. I know I will.

Some Useful And Interesting Things

Posted on January 15, 2013

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I guess I might reconsider the title of this post and perhaps change it to something like “Things That Are Useful to Me” or even “Things That Are Useful And Interesting to Me.” Although, because I’m the only one writing here (at least as far as I know), I guess it’s pretty much implied that anything I list in a “useful” or “interesting” post is, or has been, useful or interesting to me personally.

That’s not to say you won’t find these items useful or interesting too, you may. In fact, I hope you do. Anyway, here we go. . .

• Because everyone seems to be getting sick these days, Lifehacker has a no-nonsense, non-alarmist, essential guide to Flu and how to deal with it. Useful indeed.

• The California State University system is going to give online courses a big test and offer a lot of them online during a trial program at San Jose State University. This could save the state quite a bit of money. I wonder how it will go?

• Facebook unveiled a new search feature today which will allow users to search, well, Facebook. The new feature, called “Graph Search,” is designed to allow users to search for content on Facebook such as news posts, status updates, photos, locations and more within the Facebook Social Graph. Sure, why not?

• Over at Sprouted Kitchen, Hugh details his Chemex brewing method. If you like coffee as I do, this is a great way to make it. To make things even easier, he’s put together a video demonstrating the process. Check it out below.

[vimeo 48920310 w=500 h=281]

The photo above is also from Hugh’s article. Just wanted to mention that.

All I Want for Christmas Is . . . Nothing

Posted on November 27, 2012

With both Christmas and my birthday fast approaching, I thought it would be prudent to share some thoughts I have about the holidays that will hopefully answer the question I frequently get asked around this time of year: “What do you want for Christmas and/or your birthday?”

The short answer is I don’t really want anything. That’s right, I don’t want you (or anyone else) to get me anything.

Confused? Allow me to elaborate.

I don’t need anything — The truth is I already have pretty much everything I need. If I do really want or need something I don’t already have, I’m extremely fortunate enough to be in the position to just go ahead and buy it for myself.

If there is something I haven’t already bought that I really want, it’s probably very expensive and definitely not something I would ever expect anyone to buy for me. Or, as it is in a lot of cases, I just don’t need it that bad and am willing to go without.

I already have too much stuff — In fact, I’m really trying to downsize the amount of stuff I already have, so adding new stuff is not really a priority. Plus, I am currently looking for a new place to live, which may or may not have more space than I currently have, so I really can’t be adding a lot of new until that’s sorted out.

Although, even if I did end up with a lot more space, I would likely still be trying to downsize. The simple fact is I realized a few years ago I can live with less. It was a terrific realization and I’ve tried to stick with it. So far, I’ve been pretty successful.

I could go on with more reasons, but those are the big ones. I have a good life and I’m thankful for it. I’m also extremely satisfied with the current quantity and quality of “things” in my life.

Although, if someone did want to buy me one of these, or one of these, or one of these (perhaps all three?), I might find a way to make an exception.

Until then, I’m just gonna sit over here on my more than adequate pile of stuff.

Happy Long Weekend and a Fitness Update

Posted on November 25, 2012

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and ate until they could eat no more. As for me, I didn’t actually do that much eating this weekend as I’m in the midst of getting in shape for the rest of my life.

Yes, I realize the “rest of my life” thing might be heady stuff for this early on a Sunday, but what can I say? I’m taking steps to better myself, it’s going pretty well and I feel like sharing.

Since I started eating better, not drinking booze/beer and working with a personal trainer three months ago, I’ve lost over 20 pounds and can now fit into clothes I used to wear long ago and new ones I bought thinking I would eventually fit into them. I gotta say, it’s a pretty great feeling to be accomplishing a goal like this.

I’ve still got a lot of work to do so I can’t stop just yet and start eating pizza and drinking beer. That will come around again once I get to the weight and level of fitness I want to get to. At that point, an occasional binge here and there won’t be a problem.

Until then, it’s protein bars and turkey wraps on whole wheat tortillas for me. Fortunately, I actually like eating both of those things, so it’s not really that much of a problem.

The weird part is that I don’t really miss the bad food or booze all that much. I really thought I would. Sure, I think about eating pizza or a cheese burger, having a beer or, perhaps, a bit of 21 year old scotch now and then, but I really don’t miss any of it. It just isn’t as important as I thought it was.

What it really comes down to is this: I want to live a long, happy and healthy life instead of any of the alternatives. In short, I choose me.

I think I made the right choice.

Moving Forward . . .Together

Posted on November 8, 2012

This post will not be a victory dance or joyful celebration of any sort. That’s not what’s needed now. The election is over and the best man, in my opinion, won. You may have a different opinion and may have voted for the other guy, and that’s just fine.

I’m glad you voted at all. As I expressed recently, voting is very important.

But now that we’ve decided, by popular and electoral majority, to give President Barack Obama four more years, I think it’s time to put aside our differences and the vitriol generated by the election and at least try to work together to solve the country’s problems.

In the words of the well-intentioned, but highly misguided, Grand Moff Tarkin: This bickering is pointless.

Let’s all try to work together for once and see how it goes. Who knows, if we stop blaming each other for everything, we might actually accomplish something?

I know it may be just a dream and a crazy notion, but then again, this country was founded by a bunch of dreamers with a crazy notion or two. We’ve already got that crazy dreamer thing going for us, and if we harness it, we can accomplish anything.

The truth is we are much stronger together than we are apart. It’s really that simple.

Decisions, Decisions

Posted on October 14, 2012

I really hate making decisions in most situations. Often, I have good reasons for choosing either option I’m deciding between. Sadly, I’m in the midst of such a quandry at the moment and not sure how to proceed.

Over the years I’ve discovered that I have a lot of interests. Sometimes, those many interests hinder my focus on one thing in particular. After all, there’s only so many hours in the day and I only have so much energy so. . . you get the idea.

I’m going to be soliciting advice from people who’s opinions I trust and will arrive at some sort of decision sooner rather than later. That’s my process and I guess it’s pretty much the best way to go. I don’t like it but I’ll do it.

Although, I really shouldn’t feel too bad about having to make these kinds of important decisions. It could be so much worse.

I’m very lucky that I even get a choice at all.

 

Stuff I Find

Posted on April 19, 2012

I have not been as good about putting things up at this blog as I intended to be. I know, enough with the excuses. It’s just, well, you know. . .  a pain in the ass to find things I deem worthwhile to post here.

I tend to over analyze what I’m going to say here or post here, which is sorta dumb considering its my blog and I do what I want. It should just be enough that I manage to put up something.

I suppose I could just put up any old thing I find lying around the Internets. That might work. Let’s give it a shot, shall we?

To start us off, here’s a video of Aziz Ansari saying funny things.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzp1XlHiJWA?rel=0&w=500&h=281]

As always, no need to thank me.

Weekend Rage Update

Posted on April 6, 2012

Even on my best days, I’m not able to give all I used to be able to give. These days I’m lucky if I can get three or four good hours of work before my brain starts to wonder off and take a stroll.

I guess that’s just one of the things that comes from getting older. You can’t do all the things you used to do plus, even if you could, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy them as long. Sucks.

They say with age comes wisdom. That’s probably true, But I would trade a bit of wisdom for a full day or two of solid work and the ability to sit for long periods of time without my back starting to feel like a tiny man is sticking a knife in it and twisting. I don’t want much, really.

I also don’t want this to sound like I’m complaining too much. I’m really not. There are a lot of positive things happening in my life. Still, thinking about it more, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to age gracefully.

I think I’m going to have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into that good night. Rage? You betcha. Against lots of things, machines included.

But I think that’s good sometimes. It helps keep you alive to be still fighting the good fight.

Okay, that’s done for now. If you celebrate Easter, have a happy one.

If not, enjoy one of the greatest inventions ever devised: the weekend.

See you on the other side.

 

Things to Say

Posted on March 14, 2012

For those who know me well, this may come as a shock . I don’t always have something to say. In fact, finding something so say here, for this blog, is often difficult.

I spend a lot of time writing for The Flickcast and on my other comic book, TV and film projects that by the time I get to this blog, I’ve pretty much lost whatever modicum of creative mojo I had. It’s a sad state of affairs really.

I would like nothing better than to have a bottomless well of creative juices. That just isn’t the case, though, at least not anymore.

I remember a time when that wasn’t true. And it doesn’t seem all that long ago. I distantly recall being able to work hours and hours and not only not be tired, but to have lots of fresh, interesting ideas as well.

Dare I say it but I guess this is one of the things that comes with getting older. I just can’t do it like I used to.

Of course, it could also be that I’m just lazy and this is all just an excuse so I can play Mass Effect 3 or some other new shiny. I guess that’s possible too.

No, now that I think about it, I’m sure it’s getting older. Yeah, that’s it.

Let’s go with that.

Ups and Downs

Posted on February 1, 2012

Well, so much for the great “let’s post my Instagram photos to my blog automagically” experiment. If you’ve been following this site the last couple days, you know it went horribly wrong and resulted in lots of the same thing being posted over and over again.

Not good. Made even more not good by the fact that this site is setup to automatically update my Twitter with new posts and that’s set to automatically post to my Facebook. Not good times a hundred thousand.

So, that meant a lot of extraneous posts and a whole slew of bullshit I needed to deal with today in addition to the ever increasing pile I already have allotted to me. But I’m not unhappy.

However, to read this site or my Twitter or Facebook you might get the impression I’m disgruntled, angry or otherwise unhappy. Not at all.

In fact, I’m not disgruntled, rarely angry and thousands of miles away from unhappy. Just ask anyone who knows me well and they’ll tell you. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Welcome back. I tend to go the opposite direction of angry and in most cases, I just keep on being happy. I’m not saying I never feel down or sad, I do. Everyone does. Well, most everyone anyway. Probably not sociopaths. But they’re just weird.

Anyway, the truth is for a vast majority of the time I feel happy and I think life is pretty good. It has some ups and downs, sure, but to me that’s what makes it interesting.

Of course, I say this as an educated, white male living well above the poverty line in a city with great weather, great people and with a lot of opportunities for work, fun and to live life to the fullest. Yes, luck may be a factor too.

However, even with a lot of luck you still need to do something with the opportunities presented to you. You can’t just sit back and expect the world to come to you. It doesn’t work that way and at some point, if you’re still waiting, eventually you’re going to be disappointed.

The trick is to get out there and do something before that happens. That’s why I make sure I’m as busy as possible doing a variety of things that a love. I don’t want to look back later at my life and be an old man filled with regret (apologies to Christopher Nolan for cribbing that line).

That’s what helps me stay happy. It might not work for you but hell, it’s worth a try, right?

Let me know how it goes.