As I sit here typing on my aging G4 Powerbook, listening for my iPhone to “ding” with a txt message for me, I have been thinking a lot about my next computer and if it will be a Mac or not. I *really* like my Mac laptop, both my older personal one and my newer MacBook Pro for work. However, it seems that Apple is becoming what they always wanted to differentiate themselves from: Microsoft. They touted the tagline “think different” for so long, perhaps the meaning behind this has somehow rung hollow as their coffers have been lined with gold from the relationships with big [old] media (iTunes) and the telcos (iPhone). It seems that the close, and profitable, relationship with these entities has rubbed off on them.
I have read all the buzz on the iPad, and a lot of it seems just that — buzz. The device is nice, more eco-friendly than many devices, but still brings with it the shackles on creativity that made people hate Sony, Microsoft, and other with such passion over DRM rules. It’s funny how the press latched onto Metallica’s fight against unlicensed music content. What they don’t publicize is how little the actual musicians get from selling their souls content to the big music conglomerates — who also have strong control over the content/media outlets that allow the [paying] pubic access to the content.
Cory Doctorow wrote up a great article on why he isn’t interested in an iPad. I may stick with a Mac laptop and OSX, but all this gives me serious pause in considering my next purchase. Further, a cheaper PC-based laptop with a stable version Linux, with the right UI, may give me what I was really looking for in the first place.
In fact, a University of London study done for Hewlett-Packard found that “infomania” — a term connected with addiction to email and texting — can lower your IQ by twice as much as smoking marijuana. Moreover, email can raise the levels of noradrenaline and dopamine in your brain by constantly introducing new stimuli into your day. When those levels get too high, complex thinking becomes more difficult, making it harder to make decisions and solve problems — key roles for all managers.
http://www.bnet.com/2403-13242_23-383397.html?tag=content;col1
One the family traditions I have tried to continue was making up stories for the kids. Not sure if this is part of my Irish yarn-spinning heritage, but it seems to sit well with entertaining the kids at bedtime. When Ryan was about 4, we started making up stories about the characters “Patrick O’Dell”and his friend “Jack Woodson”. After awhile the stories just became centered around Patrick O’Dell. The longest of the stories was about Patrick O’Dell meeting the Dwarves.
Ryan had a class project to write a story, and he chose to recreate the ‘Dwarves story. We have had plans for some time to write the story down, and it seems that Ryan has a good start. Here it is below (which he got an “A” for)…
Once there was a farmer boy named Patrick O’Dell. Every day he would go to the same fields, pick the same vegetables, milked the same cows, and sheared the same sheep. Patrick wished just once, something amazing and extraordinary would happen, and one day — it did. On a beautiful summer afternoon, Patrick was digging in his special hill. Where Patrick lived, there was a rumor that in the olden days, dwarves walked the streets and mined deep underground. To get into the mines there special dirt mounds with a door on each side. Each door had a special key that was hidden in a secret place that only the dwarves knew about. One day the dwarves never came out, so the townspeople buried the doors with soil. Years later they forgot all about the doors and the dwarves. The dirt mounds are still there, but people thought the doors were a myth, or are they? While Patrick was digging he hit something hard, and it sounded like wood. He dug a little more and saw something shining in the ground. He cleared away some loose dirt and saw it was a doorknob. He cleared the rest away and saw it was a door with a little keyhole. Patrick rushed inside, went up to his room, got the key his mother had given him for his birthday, rushed back outside and stopped right in front of the door. He carefully put the key in the hole and turned the key until he heard a click. He turned the doorknob and surprisingly the door opened. The opening was small, small enough for a dwarf. He put his ear to the opening and heard banging, hammering, and yelling. Patrick knew right away that he had found a dwarf door. A special door, a door — to another world…
I’m hoping Ryan and I can collaborate on the next chapter to the story, so we can finish it in time for his younger brother to enjoy it.
No, not me silly. However it’s pretty clear that Penelope Trunk does. It’s over a year since she made this blog post, and its *still* getting comments. Some are almost spam, but the fact that there are still legit comments on her rant about how much she despises Tim Ferris is either (1) a brilliant way to get continued traffic to her blog or (2) the complaints of a whiner. Lesson learned: if you want traffic and don’t mind the possibility of a slander suit, make pointed nastygram comments about a popular figure, and you will get traffic. Perhaps she used to work for a tabloid or something; seems to work for them.
Thanks to a visit to my friend Curt, I was able to get a hands-on look at the Amazon Kindle. I have an iPhone, with a lot of ebooks on it. This comes in handy when traveling as I only need to take one device with me that does it all: email, phone, apps, ebooks, etc. So when I saw the Knidle (and more recently the unusually large iPod Touch — I mean iPad) I thought, big deal.. I already have an ebook reader. However, I really wanted an up-close look at the eInk screen.
I had heard some downsides to the display, as there was no scrolling for text as you read, and there was a distinct flicker as you switched from page to page. However, after seeing this up close, it’s hard to deny the crispness and contrast of the display. This is very much like a printed page. You will need an external light source if you want to do night reading, but the new Kindle(s) do have a nice text-2-voice capability that allows the device to read the text to you.
The original Kindle form factor turned me off, and I passed on looking into it more. However the new device is think, quite lightweight, and because it really only stores text and B/W images, can store an amazing amount of content in a small memory footprint. The new DX is a bit too big for my liking, but does seem to have more screen real estate relative to the device size.
The cons seem to be the device screen; this is not a milspec hardened device. There have been reports of screen issues, but according to my friend Amazon replaces them quickly. However this is something that you’ll want to get a case for. Overall though, I think I might get one… but I still like the feel of a paper book.
The Price of my Dreams – $60 a Week
Ok, so since my health scare this summer I’ve been reading up on getting healthy.. yes that raises all the red flags of “analysis paralysis”, but since I was not cleared to actually get out there any tart running marathons I was just doing what I could do. One component of my plan is eating better.
There are there three main areas that are impacting my health: poor diet, poor exercise, and stress. I read the article above by Sid Savara and it set off a little lightbulb in my head (dimly, but there). I’ve been pricing out local gyms so I can run in the winter months, so the idea of budgeting for someone to cook ready-made healthy meals sounded kinda good. Kristin is trying to get back in to Nutrisystem, but I think I’d like to look at having someone cook real meals rather than eating the fish-oil laden pre-packed stuff. I’m sure it works, as I have several friends how have had success with it, but I’m not a big fan of most frozen/vacupacked meals.
I *could* do this myself, and have planned/cooked/toted meals in the past when I was on the BodyForLife program. However, with 2 kids now and busier job now I’m not sure I’ll have the time to do it right. If I have to for cost reasons I will, but if I can have someone help with even 2 days worth of meals a week, that would be very cool and worth every penny.
So, we’ll see how far this idea flys. If anyone has any experience or thoughts on this, let me know via comments.
In short, the swine flu sucks. 103 degree fever, body aches that drive you crazy, coughing, runny nose, etc. This is especially problematic when the entire family gets it at the same time. We also discovered that giving Tamaflu to an 11 year old with a high fever causes hallucinations. Chasing an 11 year old up and down the hallway at 3am, while you yourself feel like the walking dead, makes you wonder if you’re being filmed for someones comedy show.
My propensity for nerd-dom comes thru here. When I go, this is the sort of thing I’d like. Not the normal solemn urn or box, but something cool that shows something about me.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/sparc_urn_-_yes_hes_really_in_there.html
September 24th, 2009
admin
A new story snippet I started 2 years ago…
It was a dark and stormy night when Rick realized he left his brain back at the bar. Well, at least the part that did most of the thinking. He didn’t intentionally leave it sitting in the tray next to his empty beer glass, but as soon as he unplugs it, the little reminders that pop into his thoughts are no longer there.
“Well” thought Rick, “at least the little guy can tell someone who it belongs to.” Rick continue on to the apartment in the rain without a second thought, literally.
Rick climbed the grimy, creaky steps to the door of the second floor apartment and fumbled with his keys. The thin round cylinder with laser cut bar codes slipped easily into the round keyhole by its time worn end. At least this much was hardwired enough that he could still remember where he lived. The door lock quietly chirped, then thumped as the lock opened, and Rick went inside.
The room slowly lit when he entered as the bioluminescent plastic strips on the walls woke up like trapped fireflies. As he walked down the short hall, he noticed the blinking lights of the answering machine.
Not sure where this will end up, but I figured I’d post it. Let me know if you have any ideas.
