Personal Archives

Talking about bidness.

I will be speaking to the Carslon School of Management Entrepreneurship Club tomorrow over the lunch hour. Preview: I wont be talking about business plans and taking a bunch of venture capital. I will be talking about my experiences these last two and half years at Refactr and what has worked and not.

Happiness is a warm bum

If I were to make a parody website this would be it: The washlet site. Only this isn't a parody and that makes it all the better. I happen to be shopping for a toilet and this dual flush model from TOTO is looking to be the ticket as it will save a lot of water over the course of the years by using less water for when you don't really need the full flush. But then I came across the upgrade option, a heated seat that uses water to wash you and then dries you afterward. A quick stop at the site, and I was immediately taken, ahem, aback. Checkout what all the actors have to say. I especially like the testimonials read by the "happiness girl" - I mean aside from the introductions, LOL! The funniest joke of it all, however, is that I kinda want one, especially the s400 that "senses your presence", opening and closing the seat, and flushing for you.

minnēbar remembered

By our count nearly 350 geeks and "geeks at heart" converged on the Railroader building in downtown Saint Paul this past Saturday and I think most everyone has been very positive about the result. I believe that number (or any number over 300) would make minnēbar the largest barcamp outside of India (Barcamp Bangalore 3 - just a couple weeks ago - drew over 500 people!). I know that barcamps are supposed to be about local community and ours was no exception, but it was still nice (and a little amazing) that we had quite a few people drive or fly in from New York (at least 2), South Dakota (at least 2), Wisconsin (6 or more), and Chicago (at least 1). Knowing that this event is worth someone's Saturday is one things, but also worth a six hour drive, or several hundred dollar plane ticket? That is awesome.

I am very happy with the way the event turned out. I think the sessions, by and large, were first-rate. The special guests such as William Gurstelle and his excitement for making things that go Whoosh, Boom, Splat as well as the Scout Robots from the University of Minnesota gave a nice real-life tech component to the day. Of course David Heinemeier Hansson was a highlight as he was his usual witty and charming self. I have had lunch with him before (at Etech last year) and have seen him present, but he seemed even better in this setting. All his answers came very freely and he didn't really seem to struggle with any of the questions. I am sure he had been asked about such things time and time again. Even so, I thought Jamie Thingelstad did a very good job with his side of the interview, as well.

I was very worried that the size of the crowds would really take away from the intimacy and sense of participation that is crucial to barcamps, but I don't think these fears turned out to be warranted. Plenty of people talked between sessions or headed off to an "ad hoc session room" to discuss this or that and the sessions (with a few exceptions) never got too full. I still believe that the 50 minute session length is good. It is not so much that it can get too detailed so people really have to know their stuff. I spoke with Shourya Sarcar, one of the planners of barcamp Bangalore, and he said that one of the differences between the Minnesota and Bangalore barcamps was that their sessions are 30 minutes and that they "vote with their feet" meaning they leave a session if it is no good, or not what they had hoped. Minnesota "nice" retards that practice a bit, but there was still some wandering between sessions.

Continue reading "minnēbar remembered"

Getting things done

In a recent post over at the Web Worker Daily, Anne Zelenka asked the question: How do you decide what to do from your to do list? The focus was on a couple hosted software apps that help people follow the Getting Things Done process laid out by David Allen.

I haven't really evaluated either Vitalist or Nozbe, though Vitalist appeals more to my design sensibilities. There are several others that look to be worth trying out, too. What I have been doing for some months now is using a Firefox extension to Gmail called GTDGmail. I hadn't really heard of the GTD process before stumbling upon this extension and deciding to try it out. Basically GTD is based on the idea that you have to free your mind from keeping track of tasks by getting those tasks out and into something else, often times paper lists. It goes further into saying that you really should only decide that you are going to work and then let your pre-coded tasks determine what you work on. There is more info to be found on GTD at Wikipedia including the following brief intro:

When you process your inbox, follow a strict workflow:

1. Start at the top.
2. Deal with one item at a time.
3. Never put anything back into 'in'.
4. If an item requires action:
   • do it (if it takes less than two minutes),
   • delegate it, or
   • defer it.
5. If not,
   • file it for reference,
   • throw it away, or
   • incubate it for possible action later.

GTDGmail has an explanation I like even better:

GTD has two main aims:

1. To get all the fiddly little things you have to remember out of your head, and into something more robust.
2. To give you a view of your tasks that will always answer the question "What should I do now?"

It is designed for lazy people. It is simple and effective enough that anyone can do it, and keep doing it.

In addition, they state that any task that can be done in 2 minutes or less, should just be done right away. (Thus reducing the stress of task overload).

I am not using the full GTD system. I have modified it a bit to suit my needs. The GTD system has Contexts, Statuses, and Projects and while I like the idea of Contexts (where I do things e.g. at a computer, or on the phone) I find that I am mostly using this for tasks that I would do at a computer or that context did not really matter much to me. I usually just click on a status such as "Waiting On" and a project title such as "Refactr Website" and call it good.

I am just now starting to buy into the system and use it daily. There are a ton of customization options and, in one of the neatest aspects of the software, some of these options are configured based on one of three archetype users you tell it you are:

The Empty Inbox
Style: As soon as an item comes in, it is labeled and Archived. The Inbox should always be empty.

The Archive Graveyard
Style: Keep all current items in the Inbox, and put all finished ones in the Archive.

I Love My Inbox!
Style: All items stay in the Inbox. Archive? What Archive?!

I strive to be the middle group but am afraid, all too often, I fall into the last group. All in all, I guess I would say I recommend anyone who feels a bit overwhelmed with tasks to give GTD a try, and specifically the GTD Firefox extension. It can't really be worse than putting messages in all those folders can it?

My first 48 hours with MacBook

I cannot believe how easy the transition has been for me in my switch from Windows-based computing to my new Mac. I admit I was apprehensive and had a lot of worries that I wouldn't be up to speed as fast as I needed to be, but those fears appear to be unfounded. Sure there are a couple keyboard commands I am retraining my fingers on and there are a few Firefox extensions that don't work well, but all in all I have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of the switch.

I am sure it will take a couple months to erase some of the muscle memory of hitting ctrl + c and v in favor of command + c and v and I there are no doubt countless little things I will find in Photoshop that could slow me down (like the save for web keyboard commands, that is an awkward hand contortion). I picked up the new wireless, Bluetooth Mighty Mouse too and have adopted a wait and see approach there. It is a great mouse in many ways but it seems a bit small for my hands and I can't quite get it configured how I want (though the SteerMouse software I downloaded is helping by allowing me to set additional preferences and per application defaults). The Tabbrowser Preferences extension (does anybody else hate the change to the word "Add-ons"? I wonder if it has legal reasons) is something I cannot really live without and a couple others would sure be nice to have on the Mac side of things.

But let's talk a bit about what I am impressed with. First off, and it really does strike you before anything else, is just how physically well-made these laptops are. There was a tremendous amount of thought put into the closing mechanism, the placement of ports, and the power supply. The keyboard has a great tactile feel and the back lighting and lighted indicators for num and caps lock are great..

Inside, the operating system is intuitive and clean. It responds quickly (even with only 1 GB of RAM. There were a couple things I altered right off the bat to make it feel better to me (adjusted the font smoothing down to 6 from 8; turned on full keyboard access for all web form controls (like check boxes), and adjusted the settings for Dashboard, Expose, and the Dock.

Third party software (while I lament the dearth of free options, has impressed with the overall level of quaility in the interface department. Almost all of the applications I have downloaded (TextMate, Transmit, and Parallells), very nice and tied closely to the look of the OS.

There are still some things I would like to figure out, like how to efficiently use Dashboard and iPhoto, or how to get my Google Calendar to load into iCal like it is supposed to, but all in all I already feel very comfortable with my new Mac and am dreading going back to work in the morning and booting up my Dell.

All Hallows' Eve Bonfire Bash 2: The Wrap-up

It happened again. Just like last time a thirsty hoard of ghouls, goblins, and (scarier) celebrity impersonators descended upon our house in suburban Minnesota to feast and drink on ... well food and beer, mostly.

It was a great time, this past Friday night, with a bonfire and fire "juggling" and even bobbing for apples of all things. I am a bit disappointed that we only had 1 person crash at our place, though. That represents a 300% decrease over last year.

But mine was not the only house to be haunted that night. Take a look at some great photos on flickr tagged with "Halloween Party" I like the shots from the Industrial Light and Magic party (and while some of these are great costumes why did I still expect more). Some favorites: A giant digital camera that actually worked, Katamari Damacy, Borat, and the whole Monty Python crew of knights (complete with giant Trojan rabbit).

Marie Antoinette was looking good too. Just look at that detail in the wig!

Current standings

We have another new addition to our family

Barkley is his name and he will likely be the last new family member for a long while. We aren't quite sure what he is made of - Airedale Terrier, Collie, Burmese Mountain Dog? But he has a great disposition, is a very playful at 4-5 months old, and is cute as can be (sometimes I hear myself say these things and cringe). Check him out in this "exclusive" Flickr photoset.

Agile Design

At the minnēbar conference in May I presented a session titled Agile Design (slides) and a great discussion ensued. The talk centered around the concepts and ideas of the Agile Method, but, you guessed it, as it related to information and visual design. I have had a great opportunity in my current role to help to define and evolve our process and practices surrounding software design and development. I love the team I work with and hope to continue breaking new ground with them.

I also wanted to post a bit about some ongoing and upcoming projects I am involved in so you know what I have been up to and what to expect.

First, I am planning to launch a new site with some peers of mine that will be focused on the agile method and particularly how it pertains to the development of "web 2.0" apps. You might think of it as a Signal vs. Noise type blog with less of a marketing spin.

I am also helping to plan OpenBar for the fall of 2006. OpenBar will pick up where minnēbar left off but its entire focus will be on open source software, using open source in your business, and is aimed at developing, enriching, and bringing together Minnesota's large but disjointed open source community.

I also have a Minnesota blog aggregation site brewing slowly, but my decision to write in Ruby and on the Rails framework (as my first foray into such technologies) is retarding my progress. Hopefully, I will post more on this soon.

Lastly, this site is on the verge of another facelift. I really like the new visual design a lot, but am more excited by some of the ways the new site will be organized as well as some of the additional features and content I will be adding. Not sure when this will happen, but I am hoping for a June launch.

Bente de Mayo Party Recap

This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to have many of my friends and neighbors over for a belated Cinco de Mayo party that also happened to coincide with my birthday. We had some piñatas, authentic tacos al Pastor, volleyball, a bonfire, and even some fire juggling (as you can see from the photo). It was a great time and a good way to celebrate another year gone. Hopefully, this will be an annual occurrence if people are up for it. Here are some more photos of the event.

Flowbee for Pets?

I am seriously considering getting a Flowbee vacuum haircutting system to use on my dog. We have always (or more accurately rarely) cut our dog's hair and it is always a pain because she freaks out with an electric clippers so we have to get by with just a scissors. I know she will freak out a bit with the vacuum sound too, but she is getting old and can't freak out nearly as powerfully now. I expect only a minor to medium amount of scratches across my arms and chest.

Any mention of Flowbee requires a link to this page, that I still think about whenever I hear mention of the product - which is, not surprisingly more and more infrequently.

Four Things

If I am a liitle late to the party on this you can blame a lot of people but you can only blame Mark for me actually participating.

Four jobs I've had

1. Stocked shelves and helped people feed their consumerism at the very first Target Greatland store
2. Called cabs for drunkards at the long defunct Mississippi Live group of bars and clubs
3. Decided the fates of small, short-term student loan applicants
4. Part of a team of people, who if together today could be doing really great things, that helped two less brilliant people make fistfuls of cash

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Any movie containing at least 15% hobbits
2. Blazing Saddles
3. Army of Darkness
4. Rushmore

Four places I've lived

1. A room in a house shared with a crazy, roid-rager who would throw his furniture around in the room next-door.
2. A small room atop a run-down fraternity house in Minneapolis
3. A large concrete co-op (where I served as president) in Dinkytown (Minneapolis)
4. Mexico for 4 months, 3 weeks (cumulative)
5. A town home in New Brighton (Minnesota) where I spent the first nights married to my beautiful wife and playing with my crazy puppy. (those were separate occasions)

Four TV shows I love

1. Arrested Development
2. Lost
3. The West Wing
4. The Daily Show / The Colbert Report (not cheating as one is basically an extension of the other)

Four places I've vacationed

1. Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges)
2. Wisconsin Dells
3. The Dominican Republic (where I proposed to Jena)
4. Hawaii

Four of my favorite dishes (soooo many things!)

1. Dark chocolate truffles and milk
2. Lobster scampi
3. Sushi (though not sashimi)
4. Authentic Mexican tacos (al pastor)

Four sites I visit daily (I am assuming mail.google.com doesn’t count)

1. Bitterpill.org (I enjoy disappointment)
2. Flickr.com
3. RobotWisdom.com
4. AltText.com (I am kinda of a narcissist)

Four places I would rather be right now

1. On vacation (New Zealand, Africa, China, Cuba top the list)
2. In bed
3. Playing basketball, volleyball, kickball, tennis or nearly any team sport
4. Anywhere with my best friend and wife (having that be the same person really saves on expenses)

Four bloggers I am tagging

1. Cam
2. Casey
3. Dack
4. James

I'm #1!

I have finally overtaken an obituary listing in Google searches for Ben Edwards. There ain't no stopping me now.

Back from South of the Border

I am back from a week in Los Cabos, Mexico, in which I did virtually nothing but play in the water and eat good food. This vacation was a bit more relaxing than most of the trips my wife and I take. We often fall into the trap of trying to do too many things each day. It was exactly what we needed. Just about the only disappointment was that we didn't get out to snorkel on the reef at Cabo Pulmo (the only living reef on the west coast of the Americas) as it was too windy. Here are some photos.

Here was my basic itinerary:

Day 1 - Get into Cabo San Lucas (late) - Go out to eat/drink
Day 2 - Hit the beaches in Cabo San Lucas
Day 3 - Travel to San Jose del Cabo; explore, eat/drink
Day 4 - Take glass-bottomed boat to Playa Amor; eat/drink
Day 5 - Rent car, drive along dirt road (2.5 hrs) to Cabo Pulmo (pop. 111)
Day 6 - Snorkel near reef; drive to San Jose del Cabo
Day 7 - All day on beach behind hotel; at nite, eat/drink
Day 8 - Morning out on beach (San Jose del Cabo); gorge on tacos; board plane

Perfect.

Late Summer Photo Review

Before I get to dispensing today's links I wanted to announce a couple more posts to the Alt Text Photo Gallery. Within the Travel - Road Trips section I have posted two new galleries of some recent travels this summer / fall. The first is a Labor Day weekend trip through the Badlands and Black Hills that Jena and I took with some friends and the second is a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (my second and Jena's first time to a beautiful part of the world). I didn't do much in the way of optimizing or messin' with the photos but, I hope you enjoy them, nonetheless.

Now on with the links:

"If Kevin Garnett were only 5-foot-8, pudgy and going to work on a newspaper delivery truck, I doubt if many sports journalists would fret about his future."
-Mike Royko, Buffalo News, June 30, 1995

California Dreamin'

I will be out and about for the next couple days in San Diego, Tijuana, and some vineyard in Temecula. I don't know if I will be posting or not - chances are not - but I have had requests (seriously) to post more about myself and my life etc. That's something I have been meaning to do much more of anyway. It's starting to feel downright Kottke-esq around here. (and not in the good - find a lot of cols stuff to post about way - but rather the I am not letting you know a damn thing about my life sorta way). When I get back we can talk, catch up. I'll show you some photos, we can talk about my upcoming Halloween party, new music, and Emeril's sweet potato salad. It'll be nice. Peace.

Random site link for the next generation.

Some explaining to do

Due to infrequent posts as of late I wanted to mention some of the things that have been keeping me away from the web lately. Living in Minnesota means taking advantage of god weather when you can get it and the end of the summer signals to me that it has been time to do something I have been holding off on doing. First came the landscaping, yard work and planting. Jena and I have built a stone fire pit and patio this summer, planted 40 or so plants here and there around the house, and had contractors come in to pour a new patio and re-grade a couple areas (prompting more rock moving and grass planting etc.). I still have some more projects too (ugh!): complete the wiring of some columns in the front of the house, attach rock/faux rock to said columns, and clean up from the previous projects.

In addition to yard work we have found time to take a couple trips. We just returned from 4 days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which was great and over Labor Day Weekend we drove across South Dakota to the Black Hills and the Badlands for some camping and sight seeing.

Add to these things a major product release at work and a couple kickball leagues (yeah I said kickball) and there is precious little time to surf and post. Rest assured, however that as the weather here in Minnesota gets worse the posting frequency will increase as I am quite excited about the web and Alt Text lately.

Why I'm a Progressive: Reason #2

I do not think that corporations should have the same rights as actual human citizens. Further, I think we should revisit the pacts that corporations function under when granted such status from the states in which the incorporate. I am not proposing that the privilege of incorporation be granted solely to enable activities that benefit the public, such as construction of roads or canals, as was the case when corporations were first established. But wouldn't it be nice it they were at least neutral to the public's interests?

You'd think that things like disasters, or the purity of childhood, or even milk, let alone water or air, would be sacred. But no. Corporations have no built-in limits on what, who, or how much they can exploit for profit. [The Corporation]

The states used to impose certain conditions on those corporations that were granted (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:

• Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.
• Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
• Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.
• Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
• Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
• Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.

[SOURCE: Reclaim Democracy's: Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States]

Through lobbying and paying off politicians over the years, corporations have rendered all of these laws (and more) obsolete and have effectively put themselves above the law - even those laws that apply to you and me. If you throw a McDonald's wrapper out the window of your car (I recommend neither eating McDonald's nor littering) you could get a fine of up to $700 but America's industry throws the equivalent of millions of wrappers into our air, water and land each day without consequence. And while we all (well most of us) pay income taxes like suckers, our "corporate citizens" often pay little or no income tax¹.

The main problem is that corporations are treated as real persons according to some laws but not others. Furthermore, corporations do not have the same moral obligations that people do. The only lawful obligation a corporation has is to generate profit for its shareholders. If making money way your only motivation, how would your actions change? Even the most unscrupulous of people in business have at least a few other motivations. Most corporations corporate persons, do not share this with us.

Corporate personhood is the doctrine that corporations are considered to be individual persons in the eyes of the law. Corporate personhood is the most critical social and political issue of our time. It lies at the heart of campaign finance reform, labor abuse, deterioration of communities, destruction of the environment, and more. [PersonsInc]

Some corporations are beginning to see how their corporate actions are affecting the earth (it's people, societies, and environment) and are taking steps to ensure that our kids' kids will be able to enjoy a life such as ours. Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, Inc, the world's largest carpet manufacturer (and maker of the very cool interface flor tiles) has identified the following "7 Fronts" on which to wage a war of change:

1. Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste in every area of business;
2. Benign Emissions: Eliminating toxic substances from products, vehicles and facilities;
3. Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with renewable energy sources – solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass and low impact hydroelectric;
4. Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and products to close the technical loop using recovered and bio-based materials;
5. Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting people and products efficiently to reduce waste and emissions;
6. Sensitizing Stakeholders: Creating a culture that integrates sustainability principles and improves people’s lives and livelihoods;
7. Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business model that demonstrates and supports the value of sustainability-based commerce;

Interface has even set up an entire website at interfacesustainability.com to outline its sustainability practices.

Since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring began to expose the abuses of the modern industrial system, there has been a growing awareness that profit at the expense of Earth--of individuals, society, and the environment--is unsustainable. - Ray Anderson, CEO, Interface, Inc.

There is far more that I could post now than I should post now, so I will end this post with a few links to some groups — actually a suprisingly large number of groups — taking up this, and related, issues. Here are a few:

• Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy
• Reclaim Democracy and their page on corporate personhood.
• Persons, Inc.
• Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood - fighting perhaps the most insidous and harmful of current corporate practices.
• Corporate Watch
• Co-op America
• Make Trade Fair
• Many more links from The Corporation website

1 - Even in the "over-taxed" state of Minnesota, there are plenty of large companies (3M, U.S. Bank, Target, General Mills to name a few) that legally pay less than a 5% effective tax rate by utilizing methods of tax reduction not available to "average citizens". See the story.

Help a Snail Out

You all know that Jason now lives entirely off of Pay Pal donations. You may have also seen the Save Toby site where a guy ransoms the life of his bunny in exchange for Pay Pal donations. Well, this is totally different: Save Shelby / Smash Shelby: You decide.

iTunes as a social ice breaker.

Last night at the airport I noticed Eric Meyer's iTunes share (UPDATE: it turns out that it wasn't THE Eric Meyer who I saw, didn't see at the airport - I thought I would have recognized him) as I had my laptop open trying to get on the stupid MSP non-free wireless network. Anyway, this morning I am sitting in my hotel room, tying up some loose work ends, I noticed that there were several other iTunes shares showing up in iTunes. I got to thinking this might be a way to meet people so I put my email address in the share name and not more than a minute later I have an email from Kevin Lawver and learned of his plans this week.

I am going to replace my normal share name in iTunes with my email address and encourage you to do the same. Anyone out there who happens across my music to drop me a note if you are interested in getting together for a drink or whatnot. You already know if we share the same tastes in music so we will at least have that plus the conference to talk about. Now I have a reason to lug this giant laptop to the conference sessions. Too bad much of my music in iTunes is "ghosted" right now , residing on a lonely external hard drive back in Minneapolis.

Update: Can't get a hold of me? Call my hotel room directly and leave a message: 512-493-3765.

Easy on the Eyes

Many of you may know that I have started a new job this year, indeed a new twist in my career. Because my business cards now say designer on them I can finally enjoy all the perks those prima donnas have been wallowing in for all these years. One such perk is a fantastic workstation setup currently consisting of a Dell Inspiron 9200 laptop with a great 17" screen with a wide aspect ratio (1920 x 1200 native resolution). It has wireless and Bluetooth built in, is fast as all get out, and even has a friggin' subwoofer built-in! What better monitor to accompany this fine machine than a 23" Apple Cinema Display with the same native resolution. If there is a better feeling in the world than looking at this screen all day, I don't want to know it.

Downsodden

Those who follow such matters know that I built a house last year and have been involved in multiple projects since then, mostly involving pushing around large rocks and piles of dirt. This fall we put down grass seed in most of our yard and to our amazement grass actually grew! I mention seeding because we made conscious decision to seed our lawn rather than sod. For those who don't know sod is considered by many to be very bad for the environment due to extensive use of chemicals during the growing process (including carcinogens in atrazine, etc.) and because sod strips away so much topsoil each time it is harvested, rendering the land useless for several seasons.

I tell you this not to lecture but to give one reason why we decided to seed and setup my next statements. In addition to all the landscaping work I have done this summer, there were construction crews rebuilding our local sewer system and putting in new curbs and streets. When they were done (yesterday) they took an area that we have planned to put down mulch and small bushes and laid sod. My dilemma now is that I don't want to waste the, already wasteful sod, yet I really didn't want it, — it just wasn't part of our plans for the area. Not sure what I am going to do — most likely nothing until next year when I re-evaluate.

Super Grandma Memories

My grandmother passed away this weekend — the one that I thought would live forever. She could never sit still and was always the picture of a healthy active woman. Six years ago she was struck by PSP, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy a debilitating disease that results in gradual loss of certain brain cells causing slowing of movement and reduced control of walking, balance, swallowing, speaking and eye movement. It has been diagnosed in just 20,000 people.

I thought I would use this post as a very, very small memorial to a woman that taught me much about living and about how to let others live and how to take life as it comes. I will miss you grandma.

10 Memories I Have of My Grandma

1. Not one to waste, my grandmother would often, facing scorn and ridicule, do things such as wash paper plates (and not the plastic coated kind), bring "extra" chicken home from buffet dinners in her watermelon-sized purse, and reuse plastic bags past the point which that it was probably safe. All the while she was proudly defiant, certain that she was right to be thrifty.


2. For years my grandmother (and my mother) would spend the better portion of two days each week on dark, smokey alleys...bowling. I remember going with them and feeling like I owned the joint — playing video games until the quarters ran out and establishing a social hierarchy with the other bowling brats ala Lord of the Flies.


3. "Why don't you turn that off?" or some variation such as "That is no good, why don't you turn that garbage off?" was almost my grandmother's mantra on those holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas on which football games were broadcast. I am not sure if she really didn't like the sport or she rather more, relished in the anguished cries for her to be quiet from all the men.


4. My first golfing experience was when my grandma took me to the local 9-hole, par 3 course and, with the patience of a saint — and the ball supply of...well, something with a lot of balls — proceeded to teach me about the game. Aside from the time alone with my grandma, I also distinctly remember the two of us running out of site as a shot of mine sailed well right and into some nearby apartment buildings.


5. "Don't tell your grandpa." That was a favorite game of both my grandma and my grandpa. They would each tell me this in hushed, conspiratorial tones, perhaps after just buying me an ice cream cone, or covertly slipping a $20 bill into my shirt pocket. I always thought I was getting away with something but the more I think about it, I am sure they each knew (if they weren't co-conspirators) what the other was doing.


6. Though some claim it is impossible I can recall my very first new years eve. Being a baby, I was in bed long before midnight, however, wanting to expand my palate to the finer things in life sooner rather than later, I climbed out of my crib, crawled out of the bedroom, down the hall, and looked up at my grandparents who were babysitting me and, at the moment, were eating a lobster dinner with champagne. And though I was only 7 1/2 months old, I still got to try both.


7. My grandmother could kick anyone's ass in Scrabble. She knew words that began with "q" but not "qu" and all the words with an "x" or "z" in them.


8. Every Christmas we would spend the evening of the 24th at my grandparents home. This practice not only allowed my sisters and I to get together with the cousins and uncles and aunts (and get more gifts), but it also gave us a sense of stability. We came back to the same house year in and year out, despite the fact that we may have moved our own home once or even twice that year.


9. Though her given name was Betty, my sisters and I called her "Super Grandma". Though this moniker was earned over time, it was bestowed after the three of us were locked out of our house on a hot summer day. She came to the rescue and took us out for ice cream.


10. Every summer we would fish off the dock at Lake Johanna just down the road from her house. We must have pulled in 20-30 sunfish each time we went. After spending all day telling me that I was a great fisherman despite the fact that most of these fish I caught could swim through the small holes in a net and that she would bait my hook and remove the fish, and despite the fact that she went home and cleaned all the fish, cooked them, and sat with me while I ate — despite all these things, she still found time to regale me with the days fishing feats, and treat me, for that afternoon, as if I was the only person she knew.

Exciting Times

The great thing about my new job is that in addition to the strategic and information architecture responsibilities I have a great deal of input and hands on creation of the interface design and information design from a structural, presentation, and visual perspective. First up is an online application for employee improvement goal setting and planning.

I really feel as though I have found the perfect place for this point in my career. I get to work with a rapidly-growing, well respected company whose able and energetic team is also very proud and motivated to continue the company's success. Throw me into the middle of a small and dedicated development team and I think we have all the tools to do dome really great things.

Amsterdam & Haarlem photos

New trip photos have been posted in the Europe '04 gallery here on Alt Text. I am just adding them as I get time so check back.

I plan on retouching many of these photos and creating a seperate album of "good ones". So if you don't care to browse all the photos in the galleries with me looking stupid standing in front of stuff you can wait a couple days.

I'm back, give me a moment to catch my breath

I am back from a great European vacation that took me through Holland, Belgium, and France seeing lovely, quaint towns and beautiful sites with my lovely and beautiful wife. Now I am back and reenergized. I didn't even mind getting up at 6 this morning to come into work. I'll post some photos this afternoon.

Superstitious Five

1. Are you superstitious? Not really, though sometimes I knock on wood or avoid walking beneath ladders — that latter seems like common sense, the former just stupid.

2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition? Baseball players come to mind — wearing certain lucky wristbands and underwear and the like.

3. Believer or not, what's your favorite superstition? I think the idea of carrying a dead rodent's foot is pretty amusing.

4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual? Yes but I am not sure why. I used to be extremely lucky — I would win everything: raffles, contests, etc. My mom would use only my name because I always won. Lucky number 8 — why should 7 get all the fun?

5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not? Nope, may the heavens rain fire upon me.

From The Friday Five

Doing King Boreas Proud

One reason why there haven't been as many posts the last week or so is because I have been out hunting for the medallion as part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival festivities.

Though I didn't find it, thanks to my friend Dan, we were in the exact location of it more than 5 days before the hunt was over. We probably even stepped over it a couple times. But trying to find a clear plastic medallion in 2 feet of snow is not the easiest thing, as two thousand or so people found out on Thursday at midnight. It was like an orderly moshpit full of friendly Minnesotan folks.

There's even a documentary being made on this hunt that was due out this year in theaters, but now may be postponed until after next year's hunt.

Just a normal day

Just a normal day here at Alt Text. Nothing new to report.

5 Resolutions

1. Eat better and drink more water (also no food after 8pm)
2. Earlier to bed and earlier to rise
3. Judge less and be kinder
4. Join a recreational sports league (basketball first?)
5. Stop creating sites for 4.x browsers

A list of prenatal posts

This draft post is actually a running list that I would keep moving each month so I would remember some issues and links to post about for that month. It would seem I stopped moving it late last June but some of these items are much older than that. New comments are found in ()

Affirmative Action - still needed

House (presumably mine)

War - Means to a Noble End? (could be but not likely very often)

Food? (was I questioning the need for food? was I simply hungry?)

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www.kuro5hin.org (must have wanted to link to this site as it is pretty good)

Very pessimistic view of the advertising industry

(one that I was inclined to believe a few quarters ago - though things look to be picking up)

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New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional electoral system

The evolution of democracy. (The lionk above spurred me to want to start a thread about th evolution of democracy but ralized I would nee dto research much more. This idea however resonates with a recent desire of mine to read the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States. I am both amazed and appalled at myself for never having done so — though I am most assuradly not alone. Oh yeah, and I was still very bitter about W "winning" the election)

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blogs to add to the list:

www.hypergene.net

www.notsosoft.com

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SCiNet · The World Trade System

Miniplants (Mini-plants could be built in mobile containers and shipped anywhere in the world — especially to developing countries. "The mini-plant system is designed in such a way that all the production machinery is fixed on the platform of the container, with all wiring, piping, and installation parts" built in.)

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http://www.frontoff.host.sk/adrift/index.php (so long ago had I meant to post about this blog that the domain has changed)

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Al Jazeera the clear winner of the War on Terror^TM

Happy New Year Everyone

I want to wish everyone a happy new year and offer hope that 2004 will bring more peace, love, and electronic goods to you and yours and provide less cause for fear, hate, and mistrust among all the peoples of the world. Carry on then.

Wreaking havoc on my body

This past week, and the one upcoming, I have/will put my body through much physical strain. I have been hauling concrete blocks (over 100 of them) to and fro between my house and the local home stores, I will, this weekend, be applying mortar to and moving around all those blocks; building a wood and steel railing; I will be building a boulder wall out of 10-18" fieldstones (20 tons of them); I played basketball for the first time in months, and I painted (actually more physical that it seems).

It only takes a week of work to realize how little I use my body for physical activity. The variety of activities have all worked together to make nearly every muscle in my body sore - but it is a good feeling. Hopefully I can continue some of this exercise regimen into the long dark Minnesota winter - or as I have often thought of it - the blubbering.

Hang on!

I get very frustrated with people who are stubborn. I stubbornly insist that people should be a certain way I guess. What really bothers me is when people do not (will not) do things that are good for them. This could be as simple as people not eating many things. I know more than a few people who won't eat any vegetables. That is just plain wrong. I know plenty of people who will not eat anything they have not already had. I mean come on do these people think they have tried all that is good to eat in the world?

I also get frustrated when people cannot see the merit of a book or movie that I really love. It could be a need for me to validate my own feelings but I really do think I need that validation and I am pretty "confident" in my ability to assess things like that.

I am not sure why I get so angry/frustrated/saddened at minor things like this - I just do. But that (along with some recent correspondences) got me thinking how frustrating it must be for "people of faith" who believe whole-heartedly in their own religious view, not to be able to convince someone of the right way to live and what to believe. I imagine it might feel like grabbing someone’s arm when they are falling off a cliff and knowing that you will eventually lose your grip and the person will fall. Do people who believe in divine salvation walk around all day and see people who are not "seeing the light" as merely zombies - shells of what they could be - vessels heading over that cliff without even knowing they could be "saved"?

Talk about frustration!

I'm coming out.

For years I have felt that I am somehow different. I wished I could just be like everyone else as that would make my life sooooo much easier. Over the past couple years I have been slowly telling friends and even some coworkers - only to hear comments from people ranging from incredulous disbelief to smug admonitions that I would soon change my mind - somehow suggesting that this is some sort of phase I am going through.

Over the same time period I have been slowly seeking out people to form my support network - other people and couples who have decided not to have children.

Some people may feel that I have somehow overstated the level of public (and private) scrutiny and discomfort people in my situation have to deal with. Some may attempt to diminish the impact of my situation – stating that I have a choice like everyone else – I don’t have to live a *childless* life – My wife and I need only do what comes “naturally.” Unfortunately for us, the instincts so many claim to have – both paternal and maternal – seem incredibly weak in us. We are constantly questioning ourselves – maybe something *is* wrong with us – aren’t we *supposed* to do this?

My defense mechanisms kick in at this point, and I usually brandish such armaments as “people simply don’t know what else to do with their lives” or “people aren’t strong enough, or unselfish enough to do what we are doing”. Regrettably, these aspersions, while fun to cast, rarely make me feel any better about my lot and do absolutely nothing to guide me as to how exactly a life without children will be.

My wife and I agree that we have an actual taste of what it might be like to be gay in a society that sees homosexuality as an abnomality (or worse). We know what it is like to lose friends after we acknowledge that kids are not in our future. We know how it feels to contemplate faking it and living a “normal life” just to fit in. We understand the stigma that can be attached to people with our same lifestyle – one of selfishness, coldness or even downright unwholesomeness. Mother’s don’t understand it – won’t accept it. Friends distance themselves, instead finding the favor of others who are more “like them”. And people in general simply do not understand why two otherwise typical people would do something that defies nature itself.

I want everybody to recognize that I do not make this comparison to be flip, or sensationalistic (ok so there is a touch of that) but rather to illustrate the depths of the alienation and frustration my wife and I have felt since we arrived at the conclusion that bearing and raising children isn’t for us some 6 years ago. Maybe if I can do my small part to convey the profound affect others can have on the lives of people like us, it can get better.

God Parents?

My sister has asked my wife and I to be the god parents to the child she is going to have next month. This poses quite a few paradoxes for me. First - it conflicts directly with my stated desire not to have children of my own. It would be rather ironic if I were to then have to raise another person's offspring. The second "sticky wicket" (I am not sure where than came from) is that I don't believe in god, per se.

I told my sister my decision hinges upon her always wearing her seatbelt and stopping smoking ASAP.

Au Paris!

I just booked airfare to Paris this spring. $241 round trip! I couldn't afford not to go. I will be hitting some folks I know (Jason that means you) for any suggestions of what to see and do. If you have any suggestions for me please email them or leave a comment.

Here are some new Lonely Planet books I have added to my wishlist: France, Paris, Belgium & Luxembourg

Life Update

Work has really picked up lately and I have been much busier. I am trying to reassert myself and focus a bit more. My house has really take a lot of my energy (both physically and spiritually) this past year. I am hoping I can soon get back to normal form.

I have also been busy taking making photos, visiting state parks, getting my financial house in order, cooking, and puppy-sitting my sister's long-haired Chihuahua.

I plan on getting back to a schedule of posting everyday, getting broadband at home will really aid in that endeavor. Thanks for your patience - more tomorrow.

"Worst Weekend Ever"

Still recuperating from a long weekend in L.A. in which I: consumed and crashed in vicious cycles, met great people, played basketball on Venice Beach (where they filmed White Men Can't jump - which is so true), learned how to play shuffleboard, sang at a Karaoke bar (sober!), and watched the Timberwolves overcome Shaq, Kobe, and the refs to beat the Lakers but not overcome poor shooting in the final 6 minutes to lose game 4 - all the while cheering louder than all the locals at the bar.

but the cabinets were bare

New photos up since they have put the cabinets in. There are also a couple new ones on the outside and if you look closely you can see the cedar shakes on the outside. They look better than I thought they would.

Childish exercises for grown-ups. I actually do this second exercise listed periodically and it does make me aware of my skull. And gleeking... that got me in plenty of trouble in junior high - with a crescendo being getting punched in the face. [from metafilter]

Lovely big golden ships with noise

Engrish subtitles for the Two Towers - pretty damn funny stuff. (If you are a nerd)


"I'm going to ask my landlord if I can get a bird. And then I'm going to get an ostrich."
--A guy at Juan's Place [heard In Passing]


Wondering where to go for your next vacation? Well, wonder no more!


Sometime between not taking that typing class back in 1992 and today I learned how to type without looking at the keyboard. You would think I would have already been able to touch type since I have been working with computers professionally for just about 8 years now, but I seem to never trust myself to let go and just look up. I just realized however, that I have been looking up and typing lately. It seems weird and I usually screw up if I think about it too much.

Taxes and Justice

This article [via oxidize] has me thinking of taxes a little earlier then April 14 this year. I quote:

"Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.

The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18,and the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay$59."

Here are some random thoughts on taxes, socialism, and the responsibility of the rich:

1. I could soften up on the idea of corporate taxation. Corporate taxes, if you think about it are double taxation as they tax "the corporation" which is really just the shareholders. When corporations get taxed now they simply cannot pay as much out in dividends and they will also "pass the taxes on" via higher prices to their customers. Since corporate income taxes make up only 10% of the revenues the govt. takes in, I think we should eliminate them and all the wastefulness associated with companies needing to know (and get around) all the tax laws.

2. Why is there never talk of getting rid of sales taxes? This is another form of double taxation (or triple if you use your dividend earnings to buy things)? I am not sure why our founders were so against double taxation but it seems that they would be unhappy with the current situation of being taxed when you earn your money and taxed when you spend it.

3. There is nothing wrong with taxing the wealthy at a higher rate than taxing the middle and poor. Sure it violates the laws of capitalism, but capitalism needs to be violated a bit - it needs some socialism added to it. Socialism has been a part of human history since there was human history. People got together in groups for the simple fact that they could better survive in that way - the strong protected the weaker - the rich giving more in for the common good.

4. Instead of complaining about paying taxes, try influencing where the tax money is spent, vote the right way, and think about the future. There is something to be said for the reformation of the political system and the contributions that drive it. When you look at the money that corporations, special interests, and wealthy folk give to all political candidates it is easy to see why most of us feel ignored. If not for the simple fact that people who give a lot of money to candidates expect to be heard and have things done for them.

I don't know where I was going with all this, but I will let you know when I figure it out.

Just like two modern-day jackasses

I guarantee that kids recreating things they see in the movies and on TV is not a new phenomenon. I am sure plenty of kids tried to emulate the cowboys in the old westerns and ended up getting hurt, or others mimicked the stunts on the Dukes of Hazzard, jumping cars, and sending homemade explosive arrows into sheds and whatnot. The difference? Media coverage today makes everything seem like and epidemic. Scare tactics and sensationalism are supposed to get you to tune in to channel X over channel Z. I don't really have a point - just an observation.


I am just now starting to recover from a cold I got this weekend due, in large part, to the fact that our furnace went out. At times it got to be 52-54 degrees in our house and both me and my dog got our first colds of the season.


If you can get past the horror of these photos you can actually feel sorry for the man behind the mask.

Paul

It's taken me the better part of 2 days to understand why the death of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone has affected me as much as it has. It was not like I have campaigned for him and I wasn't even old enough to vote when he won the seat in 1991. He was certainly further to the left on most issues than I would have voted. That said, I would not have wished for any other senator to represent Minnesota or me. Now I'll tell you why.

Paul Wellstone was not a politician. He was an activist; an advocate; a champion of the less-fortunate peoples of our country. Paul Wellstone did not represent himself in Washington, nor did he represent people that looked like him, demographically speaking. Paul Wellstone fought, with energy and enthusiasm, for the people of our country who are far too often forgotten and left behind by our political system - a system that is too quick, in recent years, to move towards the middle on all issues. In such a system Paul Wellstone was, in many cases, a single voice rising out of the din of concession and conciliation to challenge the notion that our country's lawmakers must bend to the will of the middle at all costs - that there is no place for a more liberal view (or conservative one) in our government. I say that there is a place for free debate. I say that without a debate from all sides, an issue cannot be adequately explored. I say that without senators like Paul Wellstone and Jesse Helms our democracy is greatly weakened.

On Friday October 25 Minnesota lost a senator who believed that it was important to speak your conscience and debate issues facing our nations from more than one viewpoint. On Friday October 25, the nation lost a leader who was not afraid to stand up and fight for what he thought was right - no matter what the odds were against him. On Friday October 25, 2002 I lost a person whom I was proud to have served in our government - proud to have served me.

pants

I carry my mobile phone in my front pants pocket, but considering that I do not want children, I always considered the radiation a bonus. Now Levi's is trying to foil my plan with their new anti radiation Dockers. Sure I bet if they had their way my antiperspirant wouldn't lead to Alzheimer's either!


If you don't like Bush's policies on the environment, tell him.


Why is it, in most cases, when aliens are depicted in movies and TV they are very thin. I see nothing in the advancement of our species to indicate that in a thousand years we won't all be 800-1000 lbs. I have to get to the gym. Let's hear it for the fat aliens!


I have determined that this is the year I am finally going to get "in the best shape of my life". That means I will have to eclipse my former "best shape" of being 5'9" 130 lbs when I was 15.

If I don't do it now I will never get in shape - I am approaching 30! I figure walk my dog every day for an hour and then throw in a real cardio workout 2-3 times per week with a weight training session once or twice each week.

Good Ol' Days

It used to be that working in the web industry was fun and exciting. People didn't know what it was when I told them what I did, and the folks that did had the same energy for what they were doing as I did. Those days are long gone and now there are "mainstream", non-snow boarding types doing web design. These days there are courses at community colleges teaching "web mastering." These days money must be had, and people don't care, and project budgets get smaller, while expectations grow. These days it just isn't as much fun. These days I don't have people I can count on, people who are dedicated as I am. As I am? I am...


Is the love gone away then? Mostly, yes. For the first time ever I considered shutting down Alt Text - well maybe just an extended hiatus - what, it already isn't on hiatus you say? No, but I am cheating each and every visitor of my site by not being in love with what I do - not being in love with sharing with everyone.

Explain This

I have a lot of explaining to do. I have yet another project that has me working 14 hour days or more. Arbitrary deadlines are fun!


Is Fear.com not the worst looking movie you have ever seen? And is it really a good selling point to say it is from the creators of House on Haunted Hill? That movie reeked. Plus how lame is it that they could get the actual domain, fear.com? Of course none of this means I won't see it. I don't think there can be anything web-related that is scarier than looking at nearly 2 full weeks gone by without a post at AltText.com


One good thing about being so busy on projects is that I don't have time to surf other sites ... oh wait that is a bad thing.


My house is finally going to be built. The date of the ground breaking is now set for this Thursday.


I just got back from a recent trip along the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota and Canada. No West Nile symptoms yet.

BS

For the first time in nearly 4 years I forgot (for a split second) that I changed my last name in 1998 and that my initials were no longer what they used to be. It was very odd, I was quickly entering some form data with my initials and there they were B-P-S. Something more substantial coming tomorrow If I can remember that.

As a friend, as a friend, as a known enemy

As a Big Brother I am... frustrated, out of my league, looking for ways to connect, needing a break.

As a "blogger" I... am looking for my groove, trying to give Alt Text a voice, unsure about what type of information to present, perhaps preoccupied with my "audience", perhaps not as conscious of my "audience" as I should be, frustrated, lazy, in need of a mission-like statement, planning, optimistic.

As a home builder I am... seeing a ray of hope, settling disputes, breaking ground, relieved, impatient, excited, not accepting it all as real yet.

As a friend I... am not as good as I should be, demanding, am "high maintenance", need to reach out more, should require more of myself, will let my friends know they are important to me, cognizant that I need to be a better friend.

Observations from the Hood

So its not really the real hood, it is still St. Paul's East side and there are still little naked kids runnin' around with (what I am hoping are pellet) guns. Having spent a month here in the "new" house I have come up with a list of differences between living in the city and living in the suburbs.

When comparing the suburbs and the city you will often find...

• ...alleys.
• ...people working on their cars in those alleys.
• ...more small businesses and family run restaurants as opposed to chains owned by McDonalds.
• ...more loose dogs running around.
• ...those loose dogs tend to be much larger in size and also of breeds more prone to rip your face off.
• ..."stoop-sitting" is much more prevalent.
• ...a wider variety of grocery choices. (within 5 block of my house I can get Mexican, Asian, and Indian groceries.)
• ...more crack houses or houses condemned for other reasons - you really don't see much of that in the 'burbs.
• ...far more naked children running around in the streets.

I am sure I will be back with more. I like being able to walk to places, I just hope I get where I am going before one of those dogs gets to me.


I have something else to say here. Senility. I hope I remember before I go to bed. Its always tough for me to fall asleep if I can't remember something.

College

In the last week I have had occasion to return to old college stomping grounds and walk its halls and malls. Being back there (it isn't too far - The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Campus - and more specifically still The Carlson School of Managment ) reminds me of the good times I had in college and got me thinkin' - school wasn't that bad. In fact, it was pretty damn fun. I should go back I think. I could get an MBA or a Masters in Education. I wonder...


If you are currently without cause you may want to help save the Guthrie (a theater here in Minneapolis set to be torn down).


This site make me happy. I don't know why.

Jason is nothing ...

... if not dedicated. I really admire his dedication. He is always looking at ways to improve his site and the sites of other around him. Sure I look for these improvement opportunities too, but when he finds them he actually acts and changes things. Me I just make lists of things I should do.

On my list for the past 3 months has been many of the changes he has made to Kottke.org in the last 3 weeks. I am very impressed and hope to make some changes and additions soon. Plus there will be more posts. I am turning off the TV for the summer and so I hope to have a lot more time with which to get back to 2 things I love but don't get time to do much of lately, surf/write/create on the web and camp with my wife.


On a side note - I don't have phone service or an internet connection at home for the first time in, well since the internet started pretty much. I miss the internet much more than I miss TV. Now if I could just get that central air thing I would be set.

Pledge of Allegiance ruled unconstitutional.

Pledge of Allegiance ruled unconstitutional.


We are still having problems with home building situation. I don't know who to be angry at. The people who sold the lot to me screwed up and are jerks, the neighbor is a nice but fed up with jerks who sold me the lot, the real estate agent never said anything about any of this, and my builder made a mistake in not letting me know about these problems before he signed the dotted line. Now we are waiting for the previous owner and the neighbor to hammer out their differences while the clock runs on our 150-day interest rate lock, and interest continues to accrue on the construction loan. More than you ever wanted to know I am sure. Anyone know a good real estate attorney?

I am also moving this weekend to a house in St. Paul (proper). It is not in the best area - ok its the hood - but its free until it sells or until our house is ready. It will really make us appreciate our home when (if) ever gets done.

Up North

Having just come back from "up north" as we like to say in Minnesota I have a few instructions for all those people that aren't quite sure how to drive on interstate highways (primarily for 4-lane divided highways) throughout this great land. Here we go with step-by-step driving instructions for the driving etiquette-challenged:

1. Make your way to a freeway/highway entrance ramp and proceed down it, steadily increasing your speed, until you can merge with traffic at their pace.
2. Proceed to your destination while maintaining a constant speed. (hint: Cruise control works well here)
3. If your speed of travel brings you upon a slower moving vehicle switch lanes into the passing lane (left lane) and pass the vehicle in question.
4. Return to the right lane (all the while maintaining constant speed

If everyone follows these simple rules, everyone will have a stress free trip - it is a well functioning system. If everyone drove this way there would be no breakdown in the system (by definition) and much more efficiency would result. (even fuel efficiency as constant speeds would always be maintained)

Some people claim, however, that other systems would work equally well - particularly the "I just drive in the "fast" lane until someone wants to pass then I get over" method. There are two reasons this technique doesn't work: 1) the majority of people are trying to follow the rules listed above and 2) this system requires people be more active - always watching for people coming up behind you. It should be the responsibility of the faster car coming up from behind to pass.

In the I didn't want to know that category

I just found out that milk, something I love, something I make excuses to eat chocolate for, is actually enriched sweat. How disgusting is that? I found a couple sources online corroborating what I heard while driving in the car. I must try not to think about that too much because I don't think I could bear not drinking my 3 glasses of skim sweat milk a day.


House Update: Jena and I sold our house today. After 44 hours on the market we got our asking price. Should we have held out for more? I don't think so. We do not have any contingencies on the sale and things worked out well. So why do I feel cheated? Jena and I did so much work getting the house ready for sale - the cleaning, packing, moving things out, hiding the dog for showings - that we feel cheated by how quickly it sold. Weird? Maybe. A relief? Definitely, my stress level just went down a notch. We move out July 1st and then await our new home to be finished. I will update you on that next week. Pray that I do not have to go to court with my new neighbor.

I have had a rough

I have had a rough week - probably one of the most stressful in my life. Sure there is the work stress but I also am trying to get my house up for sale, start the building of my new home, deal with new neighbors who claim to have a usage easment that takes up 10 feet of my lot along the northern line, and a townhouse association that will never return my damn phone calls about an insurance claim I want filed.

I think I have had more stressful times in my life, but I think I had better ways of dealing with it. Right now it is just balling up in me. I don't have all the physical activity that used to tire me out and not let me dwell on things.

Week in Review

Here are some links I was too busy/lazy to post about throughout the week:

It would be very interesting to see this on a PC. EtherPeg is quite a cool idea. A Linux version called Driftnet (though done independently was made too.


Fingerprint readers flawed says study. They can be fooled with $10 of supplies and a little bit of work.


Is this the new dating scene? "Honey look over there. Don't we know that pair of pasties from college?"


URLizer.com will turn those long unruly links into shorter unruly links suitable for sending in emails. [Source: broomeman.com]


How to Piss Me Off 101: Lesson 3:

Bring in a corporate mentor consultant type to have us "bring 5% more awareness to our feelings".


I know that this site: The Rainforest Site is lame but if they really can really preserve 11.4 square feet of rainforest each day I click, from the fools they sell banner ad space to, then more power to them. [Related, of course, are The Hunger Site and The Breast Cancer Site]

Spring Cleaning

I have half-finished posts that never were to see the light of day and I thought, hey in the spirit of reduce, reuse, and recycle I could clean out all my old draft posts and turn them into some lazy Saturday afternoon reading. Enjoy.


I stumbled across this page of old maps of Minnesota and found them very interesting. Some of the maps show growth by area withing the Minneapolis St. Paul region while another show the burgeoning transit system in the area. The last map, dated 1935 shows a city planning map of downtown Minneapolis. Areas are marked by what was found there or who lived/worked there - Lower middle class, Workingman's homes, Slum, Middle class residential, etc. There is even one area marked "Negro Section (Largest in City)". I believe that to be much different to city planning maps of today - but I wonder how much different mindsets are.


Also in the How to Piss Me Off curriculum: Tell me that part of the land I just bought actually belongs to you.


A hoax was reported by Salon.com over a year and a half ago about an apparent suicide due, in part, to the most popular online game EverQuest and the addictive way in which it affects many players. The EverQuest online community claims that people with addictive personalities can become addicted to anything and that the game is not inherently addictive. But isn't it? I have only played EverQuest once for a total of about 10 minutes, but once spent many, many hours playing Ultima Online, another (PSW) Persistent State World where things are constantly happening even when you are not logged in. You cannot just save and expect everything to be OK. Your home (which you really need to save money up to purchase) can be broken into when you are offline, your treasures could be stolen, and entire storylines, quests, and news can pass you by. In this way you are compelled to stay online as much as possible. Plus you "know" people online. There are often tens of thousands of other players online at once and you get to know them - you join guilds with them, or go to war against them. There is so much at stake (literally months if not years of time spent playing and accumulating goods) that you can sometimes forget that none of it is real. If you were then somewhat less stable then the average bear, I see how it would be possible to get very depressed about losing everything. Especially if the only thing you looked forward to in your real life was your fantasy life.

The suicide reported in November of 2000 turned out to be fake, however last November's suicide by a Wisconsin man was no joke and is bringing back the questions about these types of games and has prompted a lawsuit by the man's mother against Sony (who owns and runs EverQuest.)


On occasion I have had the opportunity to meet someone of the Mormon faith or a Jehovah's Witness and I am, each time, astounded that they are the most upbeat and optimistic (if not also somewhat naive and innocent about the "ways of the world") people I have ever met. This holds true for Mormons and JW's that I have been exposed to via TV and magazines. They all just seem so damned nice and content. (of course I could be wrong)

Don't get me wrong, I tend to be pretty optimistic in general and some who know me call me content as if they we're hurling an axe at me, but these Mormons and JW's are just too content. Without getting too much into where that feeling comes from, I can only say that they seem at peace while the vast majority of us are in various stages of turmoil throughout our lives.

As Jena recently said to me, "All I got from being brought up Catholic is all this crappy guilt. I wish I was a Mormon!" after coming to the realization, yet again, that Mormon's are always happy people. I find myself envious of them too. I would love to be at peace with questions of who, what, where, why, and when of my place in this world and the next. We both have said we wished were were born into a family of Mormon's or Jehovah's Witnesses. But we are damned. Damned to always doubt and damned to never know what it truly is like to be content.

Children can be frustrating. That

Children can be frustrating. That may be a huge understatement. Here's how I came to this conclusion: I have a little brother and he can often times be very rational, even convincing in his various arguments for or against something, often for going and playing video games or against going home at the time we selected. Convincing and rational arguments do not frustration make. Nope, it is the very irrationality he displays in other topics of discussion (or often the same arguments) where Kelby is so darn frustrating. You want to keep using reason as he has clearly shown comprehension of the concept, yet whoa, there he goes in a 180 turnaround from rational thought to tantrum-like behavior or good old-fashioned, "I'm not listening" stubbornness.

None of this matters however when turns to me at the end of an outing and says that he loves spending time with me and thinks I am cool.

Some might think that my great experiences with my little brother would illustrate to me that having children would be a good idea for me. But I am not so sure. I don't know if I could handle Kelby full-time - or maybe I could, but would I want to? My life might have to change in too great a way. I don't know if I have the energy to learn all about this new little person, I have yet to fully learn about myself.


Someone either has a) lot of free time b) a very strange sense of humor, or c) lot of disdain for the animal kingdom. Maybe d) all of the above.

Things I value from my

Things I value from my employment have been listed below in no particular order:

• Respect
• Dependence (see number 2 below)
• Opportunity to Grow/Change
• Open lines of Communication

When related to the list of things that make me like a job (in order of importance to me)...

1. Smart, Interesting Coworkers that I enjoy working with
2. Feelings of being needed
3. Interesting work/projects
4. Dynamic Environment

... we can start to see how hard it might be to find (regain? ) that perfect job experience.

Church

I have been thinking lately about going to church. Not that I am going to do it mind you, but I have been thinking about it. When I think about it though I get angry. I really do not like religions and their presumptions that they alone have it right. I would really enjoy to go somewhere once a week and talk about issues, philosophy, the world, whatever, with people of different faiths that also recognize that no one set of beliefs is infallible. We could look to the Quran, the Bible, and the Vedas among many other texts for insight and information. It could be something along the lines of Bahaiism (which I just discovered while researching this idea) but different in key ways also. I think it would truly be enlightening and would think that it would have broad appeal. But that is my optimistic self talking. I fear there are far too many people who just go to the church that their parents went to without questioning why or caring what it means.

I have been doing quite

I have been doing quite well on my quest to eat better. I have eaten meat, but I have greatly reduced the amount of meat I eat (especially low quality meat like that found at fast food restaurants) and have eliminated soda altogether. I feel good and even find my body rejecting things that are bad for me by having no appetite for those things. I am not sure how good this will be, but I have been wondering when things like the BK Veggie would become more mainsteam. Then I figure California has probably had stuff like this for years and it's just the meat-loving Midwest that is slow. [Blue Robot]


I have been planning on constructing something I have been calling the Family tree of world religions but I keep getting pulled away to do other things and my definition of religions keeps getting stretched here and there. Jason's post about this biblical family tree got me thinking about it more and maybe I will even complete it soon.


The Internet seems to be letting me down in my quest to see the trailer for the next Lord of the Rings movie online. I saw it in the theater and in true trailer-style, it was at the end of the movie. It wasn't quite as good as a well-edited cinematic trailer ought to be, but it still looked damn good.

Many comments

I have received many comments about my post about children and the selfishness of having them. I am not against people having kids, I actually am for the propagation of our species. You may gain my ire by having many more than two kids, however (unless you adopt more than two - that's fine). I would like someone to give me a list of the reasons having children is a selfless act (or even why it isn't selfish). I can come up with many a reason why having children is selfish. All the reasons I come up with are for me and not for the child or for the "greater good" of society and the human race. Here are some of the reasons I believe that having children is selfish:

• "All our friends are having kids and we don't want to feel left out."
• "A baby will love me unconditionally."
• "I know if we have kids my spouse and I will patch things up."
• "Who will take care of me later in life if I don't have kids?"
• "I want to pass on my genes to the next generation."
• "I want to continue my family name."
• "I want to teach somebody everything I know."
• "My children will have it better than I had it" read: live vicariously
• "I've got the house, the 2 cars, and the dog, I guess that is the next step."
• "Having a child will give my spouse some way to spend his/her time."

I want to repeat that I do not think having children is BAD, just that it is a selfish act. There are plenty of selfish acts that we commit each and every day why should we care if this act is labeled selfish or not. Most of the reasons I do not want to have kids are selfish reasons (I enjoy travel, spending time with my wife, and quiet) but my main reason for not planning on having children is quite selfless. Still not convinced that I am not a heartless bastard? Here is the explanation I most often give for not planning on having kids:

All too often people have kids for all the wrong reasons (I know this begs the question of what the right reasons are - I don't know) and the children brought into the world by these people are often a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th priority. I intend to have children when it becomes my number 1 priority and not before. I only say I do not plan on having kids because I cannot see them ever being my number 1 priority. I think the world would be better if more people thought like I do. Children would be cared for and nurtured how they should be and not treated as accessories to a perfect life.

I am still up

I am still up. It is after midnight and I have done a bit of surfing. That's really something I do not do a lot of any more. I used to feel quite bad about that, but now I am not so sure. From now on, I may just go to my dozen or so sites that I like to read and call it a day. It's not that I do not want to see new sites and experience new things, it's just that I feel the more I see, the less creative I can be. You know what I mean. Have you ever been formulating some idea in your head - even to the point where you were planning how you may do something and then, you innocently click on a link and there you have your idea realized. Maybe in a way you would have loved to have done it in? I think the same thing about writing. As I contemplate a more structured type of writing, essays and short stories, I almost fear to read more books. I can feel my writing style being affected with every book I read, just as my web design and project ideas are swayed and influenced by the sites I visit. I need to find a way to balance things.


I haven't forgotten to post about "what I learned" at SXSW, I'm just not ready is all.


Question: Why do I get so angry (inside in my usual Minnesota way) at people who try to hand me religious literature?

Answer: I don't know. From a logical perspective I recognize that if I truly believed in something so much I would want to tell people either via this site, in conversation, or yes even in propaganda form. My gut reaction however, is to say fuck you, I won't do what you tell me. Really closer to what I am thinking is, that I hate when people presume to know something - some great truth that I do not. But that's not really entirely it either. If Stephen Hawking was lecturing me on the nuances of black holes, you better believe I would accept him as having much more knowledge of the subject than me. No, there is something more - I just don't know what it is. Am I still not over the arrogance I have had in thinking that God is a crutch for the weak? Those kind of statements have landed me in many a hot spot in the past - and I believe it much less than I did in the past - but do I still believe it a little all the same? I don't know.

Getting old

My wife and I have both come down with what appears to be a fever accompanied by sore throat and ache-i-ness. Although it was nice to spend the whole evening in bed together I wish there were more fortunate circumstances surrounding this occurrence. Even if things improve I am not sure if I should go to work in the morning. I have a more heightened awareness lately of avoidance of communicable ailments as it seems to be going around.


Finally someone listens to my brilliance.

T-Shirts no credit card application needed

I have made a very rough page with some very rough ideas of what the house we are planning is to look like (well at least the plans anyway).


On a side note, if you were at SXSW and missed me or met me, but didn't trade for a t-shirt, let me know and I will trade you one of mine for one of yours.

SXSW in Review

It's quarter to 3 in the morning and I have just returned from "breakfast" with some very interesting people. Prior to breakfast, I was able to attend a party with some more interesting people at a very nice house and as a result, I am pretty "happy"*.

Up until today (wait...yesterday) I hadn't been feeling too good about the conference, but today - hearing Josh Davis and talking with many good people, I was really energized and feel I am ready to return to Minneapolis with a new sense of purpose. I plan on really throwing myself into my job and giving myself to the tasks at hand. In addition, I hope to work harder on personal projects and get some things I have been planning for months, out the door. But my enthusiasm isn't confined to the web.

In a post a couple days ago, I was lamenting the problems I have been having in maintaining and starting friendships. Then I get an email from Brent reminding me of this post at kottke.org (your site for inspiration) stating: "The only way to make a good friend is to be a good friend."

This is really true and I realized that I need to be a better friend to people. So don't act weird if I call you up out of the blue, or invite you out.

* Happy in the traditional sense yes, but also in the sense that I have imbibed 7 beers/wine/drinks and also a capful or two of Vicks NyQuill - oh yeah.

Austin Stories

I like Austin - it has some dirt under its nails. It isn't uptight about how it is perceived, it just is. Its people maybe aren't as nice as in Minneapolis but they aren't mean either.

Having just returned from Fray Cafe 2 (photos coming tomorrow) I am pretty tired (it's 2 am) and so will not write long here. I will say that if I ever go to Fray Cafe again (like for next year's SXSW) I have promised myself I will share a story.


Some random observations, comments, absurdities:

What would be the reaction one would have to overdosing on children's chewable vitamins? I ask this for no reason - there is no proof of a problem lest you count the half empty bottle of Flintstones vitamins here in my hotel.

Do you think people - once they leave college and maybe work in their first job - do you suppose that they determine that they have made all the friends they are going to make and sort of put a cap at that number? Maybe the reasoning being that additional friendships will be more work then they are good and it would then be too hard to maintain all of those friendships? I guess I always felt that I would continue to make friends throughout my life but somehow it seems much harder than it used to be to start friendships. Damn its even hard for me to hold conversations it seems. It wasn't always this way. At least I am pretty sure it wasn't.

I like to do drawings

I love the drawings and other assorted art at little rocket. They have a definite Tim Burton-esq quality to them but they seem very earnest and true. The drawings there inspire me to draw again and show people - though both the pencil I am holding and the little voice in my head tell me that won't happen.


A little bird told me that I should probably disclose more about myself here at alttext.com. That maybe by letting my readers know more about me I can bring them closer somehow, involve them at a deeper level. I went through a stretch there where I was in quite a Lord of the Rings / Minnesota Timberwolves rut - thanks for pointing that out Mark, by the way.

I don't know if full disclosure is an option but I do plan on putting in more effort - giving more of myself to these writings - if you will. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the coming weeks.


I have been burning the midnight oil trying to complete a redesign before I leave for SXSW. I am not so sure I will pull it off but to give you all an idea of what to expect, it will be very simple at first - almost stark and will not involve any images or tables. I plan on evolving it from that point but want to prove to myself more than anyone that I don't need the damn spacer gifs and table crutches I have been relying on since the early days of the web.

Freaks and Geeks Redux?

This new show, The Osbournes looks to be pretty funny. I may have to remind TiVO to record it.


T-minus 4 days until SXSW gets underway. Be sure not to look at me too weirdly if I come up to you and say I love your site. I will be staying at the Homestead Austin - Downtown at 507 S. First St. Look me up or call me (512-476-1818) if you have a hankering (I have to start talkin' like a Texan)

Ben Edwards Esquire

Since the sold sign officially went up today I thought I would post a photo of the land my wife (I like to say land more than lot because it sounds cool to say we are land owners) and I just purchased. Here is another one with said sign.

Best'est? Me?

The results of this seemed to ring true with me, but then again it is all pretty general stuff.


Last night my lil' brother said I was the best'est big brother he could have. I am not being folksy or cute there - he actually said best'es.

The next Fabio...

If you didn't know it yet, I have been working nights for a little extra money. Yep, I have been taken on as muse for writers of Harlequin Romance novels. The latest work you can find me in is In Too Deep by Tori Carrington. Don't think this is really me they are talking about? Maybe this "character card" will change your mind.

"...the figure stretched out beside him wasn't his pet potbellied pig, Elvis, or, worse, his longtime butler, Newerth..."

If that doesn't say Pulitzer Prize, than I don't want to know what does.


Of interest to: me. Wally Szczerbiak and his problems with teammates. This article seems to contradict some things I said in a previous post, but since most of these occurrences are from last year and training camp and have since been resolved, I don't really think they do. Basically it is an interesting read (if you like basketball) about how a young player - even a gifted young player - has to follow some basic rules of etiquette when dealing with teammates. Hey I like Wally's energy and if that means he is sometimes a little reckless or yells out when he does something good or someone else does something bad - well I can live with it.


On the home building front, we finally agreed to terms on the lot we fell in love with. Photos - to follow. More updates of only marginal (if that) interest to you - threatened.

Update

First some Super Bowl comments: The game was good. The underdog won - I love that and there were a couple decent commercials (and no Pepsi and Britney weren't in any of them)


My wife and I are moving forward on plans to build our first "real" house. Living in a townhouse the last 4 years has become a drag - with the militant association and all making sure our Christmas lights are down 10 days after the holiday and that we only have 1 wreath up at a time. We decided to build because we could really get what we want without a lot of waste. The homes they build nowadays are all so big. Some call them "starter castles" but I like McMansions myself. We found a great lot in the area we were interested in and are making an offer today. Wish me luck! (consequently this process is one of the primary reasons I have been so behind in posting to the site these past couple months. To compensate I plan on posting the status of this endeavor frequently - consider that a threat)


I am equally excited about volunteering with the Big Brother Big Sister program. I go to meet my "little" tonight. This is something I have always wanted to do but have kept putting off. I love to teach and be there when people experience new things so this volunteering gig pays me something - maybe even something more than the kid gets out of it - although I hope he gets a lot as well.

What happened to AdCritic?

What happened to AdCritic? They can't make enough money to pay for their massive hosting and bandwidth needs is what happened. I have a solution. Charge a membership fee of $2 per year and weed out the casual viewer. I would happily pay a small fee for such great content.

I am contemplating taking on some additional work in the coming months and also thinking about actually trying my hand at building up a content-oriented site. I know that is a very bad idea and has been proven not to work with solely ad revenue but I like the subject matter and have some "extra time" right now.

Seasons feelings

I have been feeling sort of - I don't know - melancholy lately; sort of down, but not too far down. I just got into the "spirit of Christmas" (whatever that means) on Christmas day and now find myself with feeling of remorse that it is over. I still haven't even exchanged gifts with my wife yet! Maybe I am trying to prolong the season a bit - postpone the coming months that are a fog of ice and snow and sub-zero temperatures running together with alternating grey and black skies. Winter in Minnesota seems to always bring about feelings of despair in me, and ideas of moving - usually out west. If I wasn't in the "web industry" I might even make the move but for the fear of getting to San Francisco only to find very little in the way of job prospects. Maybe I'll just put my hat and gloves on and feel content with what I have for a while - at least until spring.

Man am I feeling wiped

Man am I feeling wiped out lately! We just got our first snow of the season (very late for Minnesota) and I have been doing a lot of freelance work. Now I know why it's called freelance. I seem to be putting the "Free" into freelance lately. But it's all good. I really like the client. Now if I could just find time to sleep, and post.

Warm November Showers

I woke up at 2:30 this morning, drove an hour out of the Twin Cities, climbed onto the roof of our 4Runner, and pulled a bunch of blankets over my wife and I to get a great view of an event that won't be back until 2099. The Leonid Meteor Shower did not disappoint. I didn't try to count the number of meteors hitting the atmosphere but if I had the number would have been well into the hundreds. Some were so bright that we could see them flash even if they were behind us. (We actually thought someone was trying to use flash photography to capture them until we saw some of the brightest in front of us.)

At times 4-5 or more meteors would streak across the sky at a time, others would leave trails that would be visible for 15-20 seconds or more. It was truly an amazing show. I am just happy that we had such a clear, warm night here in Minnesota in November. And we only had to drive an hour to get rid of much of the light pollution surrounding the cities. When looking for dark skies the Internet pulled through again with a couple sites that helped out a lot: A Minnesota specific site that shows a nice color-coded map of the levels of light pollution around where I live and a more global site that attempts to do the same.

For more history on the Leonids Shower (which you can still see if you are living in parts of Asia right now) check out this article at the Sky and Telescope Magazine site.

On the Road Again

I am off again. This time for a drive across this land. Out west across the Dakotas, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. There is a point to my voyage - my baby sister is getting married - but hopefully the getting there will be a great experience as well. We plan to camp in the mountains and desert, stop at roadside diners, and do all the other fun things associated with road trips (the 3000+ miles of driving isn't really one of those though).

Alone at the drive in

Going to the movies by myself is something I don't often do. (but I am gradually losing my inhibitions about it) However, going to a movie just to see the trailer of another movie I really am looking forward to is something I have only done once before. As it turns out the new trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring wasn't playing at tonight's showing of Zoolander as I was hoping but I did see a preview for a movie I am really excited to see as well: Wes Anderson's latest movie, The Royal Tenenbaums.

If you have not seen Rushmore, why not? Go rent buy it now. It is very good. The Royal Tenenbaums looks like (or at least is being marketed to look like) another Rushmore. And it too, looks very good. It stars Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, and Danny Glover (wow) and with music from The Beatles, Nick Drake, The Ramones, Elliot Smith among others it is hard not to see why this movie will be great.

This year has been a pretty bad drought as far as movies go. It looks like that is looking to change in the last couple months of the year. Of course there is Fellowship of the Rings and The Royal Tenenbaums, but I am looking forward to the following as well: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Bandits, K-PAX, Monsters, Inc. (the last 3 tend to just have certain aspects of them I find interesting and so, would see)

You've come a long way, baby.

First a disturbing bit of backward thinking . [source: if then else] It seems a senator from Kansas believes that if woman's suffrage was to be voted on today that she would vote against it. Putting aside the lunacy of the situation on which she could even vote for a woman's right to vote - her statements make me sad. Her claim is that the 19th Amendment was the beginning of the erosion of American family values.

I get frustrated by discussions such as these, not because of the merits (or lack of merits) of the respective points, but rather the futility and wastefulness of such discussions. Energy should be expended in forward looking thinking. We cannot go back to the good old days because our society would reject those days (that really weren't all that good in many ways anyway) and because there are much better things in our future if we can just change our perceptions and our behavior.


And now something a bit more personal. Reading Mark's recent post about packing up his belongings and moving on in life - selling his home, taking an extended vacation, and most likely moving away when he returns. I hate "losing" friends more than anything else in life. But more than my feelings of loss, I feel left out or left behind. Not by anyone but by life. Tremendous opportunities exist for me to travel the world and stop anywhere I wish. I long for the will to pick up and change my life. I would sell many of my things I have accumulated, store some more and just take off with my wife (I think we would have to take our dog though) and simply go from place to place, working as needed to live, but not living to work. We could meet people from all parts of the earth and spend as much time as we could enjoying ourselves and the company of others. Is this just a dream? I grow impatient already and I am young. I have time. Or maybe my impatience is due to my youth. Will I lose this over time, allowing myself to get lulled into complacency? I can hear the lullaby already. Sure it sounds soothing, but if I listen too long I may end up falling asleep.

I am not my father's Oldsmobile, but I may be my daughter's Cabrio?

A great article about how us DotCommers (Gen'Xers) are gonna soon be squeezed out by Baby Boomers with more experience and cheap, more talented Gen'Yers.

Most of it is based upon the ideas put forth by George Colony of Forrester, here

This is an interesting idea and the article makes several good points. Good reading, I am, in fact, looking for more on this right now.

webopedia - for all your tech term needs.


New Vitaflo.

...

My puppy, Sadie ran away last night. We are hoping we can find her soon because, even though she has a microchip in her "arm" we failed to register her with the humane society.

Prototyping

Because this is what I do in my job I thought this was a very interesting article on prototyping on A List Apart. Maybe you will find it that way too.


As people who know me know, I love movies. Well most media actually but movies especially. There is something in movies that can touch a person very deeply, make them laugh loudly, make them cry ... wetly?.

Whatever it is, there is just something about movies. To celebrate movies I thought I would share with you some sites that I particularly enjoy who s focus is the motion picture:

Ben on Film
OK so this is a shameless plug for my own movie review site. Take it as a before look in a before/after look at site design if you will or just review some of my reviews. Coming soon a lot of cool search/sort functionality.

Internet Movie Database
A great resource for anything you would like to know about any movie.

Ain t It Cool News
Rumors and conjecture about all things theatrical.

Projector Booth
A great site I just found where I actually agree with most of the reviews.

Epinions
Tons of reviews on, not only movies, but just about anything.

Mr. Showbiz
Great info about current movies and box office info.

Moviefone
Showtimes and much more. A great site to find where your favorite movie is playing.

BargainFlix
You can t forget a place to buy all the films you love. This site lets you search for the best price on the DVD s you re looking for across many sites.

New Puppy

I gots myself a new puppy last night and boy (or girl) is she cute. I didn't think I would be smitten so fast. Pictures to follow soon.

New design at redcouch. Now with content! (barely)

Can't we just end it all!?

I am getting so sick of the web. I am tired of journals and weblogs (what the fuck is the difference! I am sick of "e" and commercials about companies that don't even make money. I am fed up with epinions, ecommerce, and ebay.

I am tired of using 216 colors, and looking at the world through a 600 x 400 pixel box. I am tired of dithering and aliasing, and verdana. I am bored by the "web-culture" out there, and of clients choosing the worst designs.

I am soo over this site and all my sites and all my friends' sites

I am tired of ranting and I know I feel like this every once and a while.

I need something to fall in love with again. I need to work outside of the industry for a while. I need to get time for my own thoughts and ideas to grow and evolve. I need the kick in the ass to really learn the programs I used often. I need inspiration to take that first damn art class.

I need to quit my bitching.

I knew you we're worried

I need to get me one of them chairs!

I am finally getting settled into the new office. (except for that chair thing) It has been really fun so far; moving, "Fun Friday's" and DVD's/Dreamcast in the theater make for a fun workweek. Plus if I ever can't take it I can go upstairs and pound a punching bag or play basketball for a while to blow off steam. Outside of the 2 coasts, I doubt you'll find a better web firm working environment. (minus the chairs of course)