I learned how to do a full windsor knot today. Tie fetish is getting out of hand.
I’m starting to toy with the idea of reducing my internet footprint, but my gut is telling me I’d be back sooner or later so there wouldn’t really be any point. I’ve been feeling technologically claustrophobic lately and private posts haven’t been hitting the spot. brownglassbottles.net is totally available!
I got out of my “date” tonight. After I started thinking a little bit about my week long tour in bad-decisionville I decided it was probably a good idea to put a stop to it.
Yesterday I found out I’m an INFJ personality. The good news is that I have the most unique personality (1%). The bad news is that I still don’t like tests like this. I don’t like to be pigeon holed into something. “You must answer yes or no” There was probably about half the questions I could have gone the other way. Where does that put me?
Speaking of which, what ever happened to the band Grey Area. They were cool.
I had such an awesome morning yesterday and it pretty much carried on until the jazz game. I should have gone home after the game, I was so tired. Always listen to your gut, not your friends.
I’m also putting my foot down. People that say they don’t cook bug me. It’s not “I don’t like to cook.” or “I’m not good at cooking.” it’s “I don’t cook” Really? Well I don’t fix things, build things, or get dirty. I keep seeing this theme come up more and more. Fixing things is probably one of my favorite things to do… shit, I spent way too much time fixing my friends computer yesterday… but I got to say what was once broken is now fixed. I couldn’t fathom making such a definitive remark like “I don’t do _______.”
Somebody asked me last night if I would ever get cosmetic surgery on my back. It’s something I haven’t thought about for such a long time. Actually, for a long time I wanted to fix it… basically the whole time I couldn’t fix it. Now, it just seems like part of me. Even if a billion dollars landed in my lap, I don’t think I would.
Lastly, Dr. Pepper makes a better morning drink than it does an any other time of the day drink. I’m glad I’m capping off this tour with some DP and some GTDing. I needed it.
For the last 2 years I’ve been able to avoid going to a party where everyone was getting blackout drunk. Not only has it been refreshing, but I think it’s a better way to bring in the new year. Some would say, “2009 was shitty, let’s drink it down the drain!” I think a better idea is to say, “Wow, 2009 was crap… let’s start 2010 on a positive and healthy note.”
Let’s go into 2010, the start of a new decade, with optimism and clarity, not with an empty bottle of Beam.
It’s clear that Google spends a lot of time on the web. A LOT. During the announcement of Chrome OS I had to keep telling myself, “It’s only for netbooks.” Without that statement, Chrome OS seems rather preposterous… kind of. I’m a huge fan of using web technologies as replacements for heavier programming languages.
I guess the big concern I have is what this means for Android. I think Google has too many independent arms all moving in opposite directions. A little over 2 years ago Google announced a mobile platform built on Linux with APIs leveraging Java. Now, they are developing an entirely new OS for netbooks based on linux and HTML. Wha? Java or HTML? Make up your mind.
As a potential developer for Android this strikes me as unsettling for the shear fact of not knowing what it means for future Android development. Is Google going to continue supporting Java on Android devices? Are they going to migrate towards HTML like the Pre. Why the hell did they bother with Android in the first place if they were just going to reverse course?
I’d love to develop in CSS/JS/HTML5 for Android devices, and the fact that it’s not really available as an option right now blows me away, especially after what Palm has done and what Google is doing with Chrome OS. Unify Google, and stop getting all Microsoft on us.
The announcement of Chrome OS makes me want to develop for Android less. The opposite should be the case.
I’ve had some random thoughts about tech lately.
- The new Kindle for PC doesn’t support loading in epub files, that’s just stupid and anti-competitive.
- There is no useable eReader for Android.
- Millar’s Law (Named after my brother since he coined the phrase): The more expensive software is, the worse it is to use.
- You wouldn’t believe how much you miss pinch to zoom and swiping when using other phones.
- The Pre is still the best phone I’ve used. Not in it’s breadth of apps, but in it’s UI, it’s principles, it’s functionality, it’s development style and it’s hardware design.
- The droid’s physical keyboard is shit, I’m playing with one all week and I find that I’m using the virtual keyboard exclusively. If you do a physical keyboard, make sure your keys are raised.
There is a beauty to simplicity that I haven’t really appreciated in a while. It’s where you stop thinking about how you can make something better, but how you enjoy something the way it is… imperfections and all. We cling to our smartphones, blackberries, iphones to help us organize our lives, but if our natural tendency is to be chaotic, these tools do us no good. Sometimes we may even blame them for our lack of completeness.
There have been several times in my life where I thought I would go postal and get all unibomber on everyone. I would go hide in the forest, chop wood, and hunt animals to survive. This is a far cry from the cubicle I have made my living off of for almost 10 years now.
I’ve been looking at some of the habits I have formed in the last year or two. I want to get to a point where the habits I have are healthy, and the technologies I use become tools and not obsessions. Do I really need to keep twittle open at all times and constantly watch what is going with my friends? Why is it that when I open a web browser my hands instinctively start typing “face…” These are the unhealthy habits that I’m talking about. Twitter and Facebook are tools. They are means of keeping in touch with friends or getting information, but it’s easy to get sucked in with the daily ramblings if you’re not too careful. Sitting at a computer for the majority of the day lends itself to these unhealthy habits.
In the last few months, my life has become simpler. I’ve been less distracted, more motivated, more conscious of what needs to happen, all while being (slightly) less dependent on technology. As I hear of more and more stories where people are using analog tools to manage their thoughts, it becomes more and more enticing to me. Keep a notebook instead of a custom built GTD solution. Use pencil more and pixels less. Read a live book and not an ebook taken from the pirate bay. Study tennis not by the way of YouTube, but by the way of a checked out book. It’s a very similar calming sensation that you get when you go camping, no push email notifications, no 15 minute meeting reminders. It’s just you and what you can do with your hands, not a mouse.
I won’t ever be able to go completely “off the grid” but I’m sure working hard to swing a little bit back to the other side… technology be damned.
