This is merely a test.
Tag Archive for 'blogging'
Staring at a blank TextMate Blogging file, he sits. A man, in his early twenties, wound a bit too tight from only thinking about the things that he should be doing, rather than actually doing it, reaches out for his large Iced Coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.
Is caffeine his only Muse? Or maybe it’s the desire for that caffeine… that inner desire to use anything that’ll give him the edge in this roller coaster game called life.
And thus. He begins to type.
I don’t want to quote Britney Spears, but you get the point
Yeap. I’m back. Things have settled down to the point where I can sit here for the next 2 hours and not move until something gets typed up.
I have a strange feeling I’m going to have a lot of bumps and bruises at the end of this, you know, from trying to get back on the blogging-cycle.
I don’t even remember the last time I made an actual post that contributed to the blog-o-sphere… because all the while I was using this thing called:
Twitter: The New Frontier
I’m just very sad I didn’t get into the game early enough. As an avid (relatively) user of web applications, I couldn’t believe I’ve been so behind on this new medium.
I’ve been having a hard time explaining to other people (and to my old self) what Twitter is really for. And to tell you the truth, I still don’t know. I feel like this channel is still very new, that rules are still being created.
There are some social norms that have developed with more traditional channels of media. For example, it’s pretty much the norm to call someone back if you missed his call. But in the world of Twitter, I’m still left with how an actual conversation starts and ends. I feel like so many people use Twitter in whatever way they want. A whole other post could be written on the different type of twitterers (Tweeters? Twitterati? See what I mean about how new this thing really is?) exist.
A few random points about Twitter after using for a bit.
- Following/Followers: I have this thing about keeping this ratio less than one. Does anyone else care at all?
- The “@” reply: I reply as much as I can. I rarely start them, however, unless I know that person through twitter. Then “@” is used liberally.
- Of course, the problem with contacting the people directly is that the conversation is no longer handled by Twitter, so the record of said discussion now is at the mercy of the AIM logs/email/phone conversation
- HUGE usage pattern differences
- I’ve begun to use my twitter as a place where I keep track of all my past AIM away messages. Morsels of wittiness or some other random links
- I’ve been using Twitterific. This is basically the core set of functionality I wanted for StatusFix, the project I’ve stopped working on.
- As long as Twitter continues to be as open with its API, I would have no problem entrusting it with all my status data. The only problem is… stability.
- Please be rock solid stable, and prove to the Rails hater that it’s very possible…
But yes, Twitter is quite fun. Finding new people I’d like to follow and having people that follow me… it’s like this new frontier.
However, I don’t see this thing becoming mainstream anytime soon. It might happen, but just not soon enough for it to matter to me.
Google Calendar: The Next Web App I Need to Learn
There’s really nothing else to say here. I just begun to realize that I’ve been losing calendar data for some time, and haven’t really cared about it. I guess I’m paying a little bit more attention to it now.
The Reviews Galore: MacBook Air, Nintendo DS, Gamefly, AppleTV, Sumo Lounge Chair…
So many random new toys, just waiting to be reviewed. I wonder if they’ll get the treatment they deserve. Because…
GMATs. June 21st.
Yeah. I’ve got this to worry about. I guess I should start paying a bit more attention to this one. It’ll probably be helpful in trying to going for the MBA.
I’m losing focus
I told you I’m rusty. Heck, there isn’t an image associated with this post. Frick.
Oh, maybe I could end with this
Yeah. So this is what I’ve been doing in my free time. WoW, indeed.
That’s plenty enough eye candy for now.
And yes, I’ve completely given way to just insanity.
Let’s try again tomorrow.
Subtitle: “Suck It Up and Write.”
It’s been a while, I know. As each day passed without a worthwhile post being put up here, it got harder and harder to write. My thinking is that if I could somehow blog about how I haven’t been able to to blog, it’ll get the ball rolling, and the dailies will follow.
Physical Limitations
Subtitle: “I’ve got tunnels in all up my extremities”
Yeap. My wrists are acting up again. And quite a bit, actually. I feel like exercising and working out helped to lessen the pain, but… I’ve also been having issues with my ankles for two months. Turns out that after seeing the doctor for the first time since I got my work permit, I might be onto something called Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. We’ll see if I have both Carpal and Tarsal next week after I get some strange electrical testing done on me.
It could be that all these issues are connected to some kind of Hypothyroidism. I hope not.
Also, for about a week, my jaw wouldn’t open all the way. I’m only realizing now how much I grind my teeth as I sleep. Might be why my jaw feels a little stiff when I wake up.
And I’ve been having pain in my upper left abdominal region. This one is still up in the air. Maybe poor posture?
So to sum it up: My body is like… melting away. This leads into…
StatusFix
Ah yes. My first multi-member project that I hoped to be a part of. Health complications definitely made me a little bit hesitant to continue in this endeavor. Also, there were huge lessons I started to learn as I partook in this project.
Which will follow later.
So those that don’t know yet: I’m off StatusFix. It still feels kinda like my own project, but it’s… time for the next project?
The Next Project
If my wrists aren’t going to be stupid, I’ll be posting the details to my next awesomeness. Also, I’ve secured another client to work for. At least I’ll be secure in that for a little while.
New Toy: AppleTV: Delicious
- Overall, it’s great… when it works. I’ve had it crash and start on me twice, and it hasn’t been a week yet. Once, I had this weird green screen that made it restart on its own; the other time, I had to physically hard boot it. That was just at the beginning: now it’s getting better.
- It’s made me watch video podcasts at the beginning, because I didn’t have any video content on it at first. Like Diggnation HD, which is pretty entertaining, although not that informative (this podcast stuff is another post on its own… my goodness, is someone keeping count on how many other posts this single entry is going to spawn?)
- Over 802.11g, it’s slow. It’s slower than I could have ever imagined. Streaming music isn’t a problem. It’s the part where I want my entire music library and a few TV shows/movies on AppleTV. The first sync took me an entire night.
- Rather than hack it, I’ve just started to re-encode things into H.264. Not the best codec for quality… or maybe it’s just the fact it’s re-encoding from .avi files. Hope to figure this out.
Twitter: It’s destroying the way I blog
Seriously, it’s making it blogging too easy. I also looked at Tumblr.
Less friction to getting my content out means faster updates. It also means a HUGE decrease in signal-to-noise ratio.
A second blog
See what’s going on? These sections are becoming Twitter updates. Oy.
But yes, I’m thinking about starting up a second, much MORE focused blog. I’m just trying to figure out the logistics of keeping and maintaining two WordPress blogs. I might have to call on some source version control software to automate plugin updates and such.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
Okay. I’m blogged out for now. Come back later for something more worthwhile.
Short of going out and buying Strunk and White (actually, I should) and memorizing everything in it, here’s a random link I found through my feeds that I’m going to try and think about as I start the set of night posts.
>* What am I trying to say? >* What words will express it? >* What image or idiom will make it clearer? >* Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? >* Could I put it more shortly? >* Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? >* Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. >* Never use a long word where a short one will do. >* If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. >* Never use the passive where you can use the active. >* Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. >* Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.