August 2010
0 posts
July 2010
11 posts
“Almost every dimension of cognition improves from 30 minutes of aerobic...”
– From Newsweek, three awesome ways to be more creative and get more done. The exercise one, in particular, fascinates me. This article, and one from the99percent called “The Cure For Creative Blocks? Leave Your Desk” make it awfully clear that the best way to work smarter and better is to...
The Neuroscience of Inception →
A must-read if you’ve seen Inception. A must-avoid if you haven’t, because it ruins everything it possibly can for those who haven’t seen it.
Either way, it’s fascinating. Again, if you haven’t seen it, don’t read it - just trust me. It’s awesome.
This site looks different!
Design is a funny thing. I’m no good at creating it, but I know good and bad when I see it. And, much more importantly and expensively, I get bored with most designs very quickly.
So, for a $9 purchase of the wonderful Scaffold theme, I’ve got a site that feels all brand new-like! I’ll be writing and posting here more and more, and playing with some of the options, so things...
“Being excellent is one of the most important things in life. But excellence and...”
– Shawn Blanc
I love this quote. Whether you’re writing, or applying for a job, or sitting in a coffee shop somewhere, being great is rarely about being “professional.” People respond to real people with real thoughts who are genuine about both, rather than someone who’s been...
“LeBron could earn close to $1 billion over his lifetime in salary and...”
– What The Knicks Told LeBron: Come To New York And Make $1 Billion
Fascinating, and probably accurate. I read the other day that if LBJ wants money, he’ll go to NY; championships, Chicago; loyalty, Cleveland. I can’t wait to see what he decides.
But still, $1B is one. big. fat. check.
“After drinking a Coke:
In the first 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your...”
– What Happens to Your Body If You Drink a Coke Right Now?
And…I can’t drink Coke ever again.
June 2010
17 posts
Woot : Amazon, Woot, and You: But Mostly Woot →
By a million miles, this is the best “we got bought” email I’ve ever seen.
“Six-year-old boys are cable-TV pundits without the audience or salary. They are...”
– How to Raise Men
If my kids aren’t exactly like this, I’m taking them back.
WatchWhat if laugh tracks were replaced with actual reactions?
I demand that every show be done like this from now on.
Ragdoll Cannon 3 is the most addicting game in the... →
I CAN’T STOP PLAYING THIS GAME. I’d tell you about it, but no time - have to go play it more.
“I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have...”
– Roger Ebert (found here)
4 tags
My (Not Really A) Layover
I spent this weekend in southwestern Ohio, where my girlfriend is from, at her friend’s wedding. The wedding was a blast, but it turned out to be not nearly the most eventful part of the weekend.
The most eventful part? My 8-hour stay in the Dayton, Ohio, airport. Which, as I sit and write this isn’t over. But write it I must, because otherwise it will be forgotten and I will still...
“I believe that most writing worth reading is the product, at least to some...”
– Alone, With Words - The New Republic
This is what I dream of becoming as a writer. And, by the way, this TNR article is a perfect representation of it.
“As the Gulf turns dark and the polar ice cap melts, I intend to listen to Bach...”
– - Garrison Keillor
The 101 Best Sandwiches in New York →
Who lives in NYC and wants to make it a personal quest to try every single one of the 101 with me? I’m game. And hungry.
Productivity Advice in 5 Words or Less →
Love this article. After reading productivity news, ideas, blogs and chatter over the last few years, I can do even better. Productivity in five words:
Go do it. Right now.
May 2010
13 posts
Is Swearing Allowed Now?
TV’s sort of the last frontier of bad language. Cursing is accepted in the workplace, among friends, and everywhere else it seems - except for the ultra-PC world of TV.
But now there are shows like “Dance Your A** Off” and “Sh*t My Dad Says”. Sure, they’re whatever-the-written-version-of-bleeped-is-ed, but when I say “there’s this great new show...
“Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker chose the name Starbucks in honor of Starbuck, the...”
– The Origin of Starbucks
Fascinating. I wondered forever where the name Starbucks came from, and I love that this is the answer.
The next paragraph talks about how Alfred Peet, a coffee importer who was the inspiration for Starbucks, saw coffee the way others see wine. He was interested in the...
And so the dark days begin
I was always the guy that read statistics about how much TV people watch, and sneered at them because I don’t watch that much TV, and I’m out making a difference and helping small animals and mentoring children and building houses for all of them and anything else that seems like a better use of my time than watching TV.
Except oh wait. No I’m not. I watch as much TV as anyone....
Stepping Out For a Bit
A week from Sunday, May 23, is my college graduation. For the week leading up to it, I’ll be in Myrtle Beach doing whatever people do in Myrtle Beach.
Partly out of not-wanting-to-get-robbed necessity, and partly because I want to, I’m going to be mostly logged off for the week. I won’t be blogging, or tweeting - I might be posting here, but only if epic things occur. So...
I'm Hiring!
Having a full-time job and trying to write, start and maintain blogs is hard.That fact, plus the obvious fact that there is TONS of talent out there currently untapped, means I’m in the business of looking for some folks.
Two things: what I need, and how it works.
What I need:
Two (2) columnists for Digitizd - you’d write once/week to start, and more if things go well. It’s...
WatchConan O’Brien on “60 Minutes”: The Full Interview
I was always more in Conan’s corner than Leno’s, but the last few months have made me a fan. I love how straight-up he is, not pulling any punches (even talking mild smack about Jay Leno). I’ll be watching when he comes to TBS
“There’s always been speculation that Steve Carell would leave The Office for the...”
– Steve Carell says next season of The Office will “probably be my last”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NCAA bracket update: We all lost to a guinea pig →
All of my suspicions have been confirmed.
“Generally, when we try to change, we simply thrash about: we improvise, guess,...”
– Magazine Preview - The Data-Driven Life - NYTimes.com
Just about right. And the first compelling reason I’ve found for investing the time and effort into self-tracking - which, no matter what anyone says or what any technology can do, is an enormous undertaking. But it can have amazing...
April 2010
19 posts
"Do This First" sticky
I read a while ago that the best way to get your day going in the morning is to start your task the night before, and you can just pick up where you left off the next day.
That never worked for me, for whatever reason. But I do have a new system, which works great: before I leave work for the night I put a sticky note, with my first task for the next day written on it, in the middle of my...
“The telephone was an aberration in human development. It was a 70 year or so...”
– Rick Webb about this (via toldorknown) (via marco)
So true! And this feeling persists in a lot of people, particularly in an older generation. I’ve noticed that my parents, or my grandparents, or really anyone over a certain age refuse to have, or at least carry, a cell phone because they...
It's the little things
I’ve started using Google Voice more and more as my primary venue for text messaging—I’m always at a computer, and I type so much faster on my computer than my phone.
Only problem is, that newfound speed has made me much more likely to send long texts—often more than 160 characters, so it’s two messages. I know, I hate me too.
So I’m typing a text message...
Does This App exist?
I want an application that’s a cross between IM, SMS, and email - on my computer. It’s got to have five key features:
1. Short messages (maybe more than 160 characters, but not email-length)
2. You can send if they’re offline, and they’ll get it when they’re back.
3. Conversations are organized by person, not subject or thread (a la SMS)
4. Powerfully searchable.
...
“Let’s let go of these obsessions with the perfect setup, with showing simple...”
– minimalism, rethunk from Zen Habits
Beautiful. I love Leo more than ever after this one.
My new morning commute game
It’s called BrickBreakerBerry. Here’s how you play: stand near a person (must be nicely dressed, and must probably make more money than me) who is using their Blackberry.
Once it’s been determined that this person is playing Brick Breaker, which they inevitably are, find out the score. Their score determines your score.
Here’s how to score the game:
If the person has less than 20,000 points,...
My day is complete.
On my way home from work today, I watched a man listening to music. He was loving it, jamming with his eyes closed. Then he stopped, flipped over the tape, slid his Walkman back in between the folds of his newspaper, and kept jamming.
That’s right, folks. I saw me a Walkman today. I wanted to hug the man, and ask how he feels about the latest cassingle.
“While the outing of Apple engineer Gray Powell was inevitable—his name was going...”
– Apple Didn’t Leak the iPhone—and Why That Matters - lost iPhone - Gizmodo
Apparently I can’t shut up about this story—I’ll try and stop after this one. This is a response to everything from Gizmodo, and I like it for two reasons: one, a Giz guy calls out Giz for the way they...