The Road Ahead

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged here.  I’ve been wanting to get my new blogging site up and running, but just haven’t yet and I can’t wait until then to roll out some new blog posts…so they will go here until I am there.

I was listening to a film-making podcast this morning on my long commute to work.  I was not “actively” driving and was coming up to a common bottleneck where the highway crosses Interstate 95.  Out of three lanes, one leads to an on-ramp in the left lane to 95 North, another leads to an on-ramp in the right lane to 95 South, and the lane in the middle gets riddled with commuters waiting until the last possible second to move to one of those two lanes…which of course brings everyone to a crawl.

Being on auto-pilot, when my lane (the center lane) backed up I chased the path of least resistance and moved to the lane on the right.  I passed about five cars before having to stop completely.  I was able to merge back to the center lane right behind the same car I had been following earlier.  Not learning my lesson quite yet I moved to the left lane when the center lane stopped, but not until it was moving very swiftly.  I now was feeling good about passing the 20 or so cars in the center lane and was about to declare victory when right at the point of the bottleneck I was forced to stop once again.  I waited for the bumper-to-bumper lane to open up…and it didn’t.  Just then I saw the car I had been shadowing earlier go by, and still I waited for my opening.  About five more cars went by before I had my opportunity to move to the center lane and move past the bottleneck into freely flowing traffic.

A smile formed on my face to break through the bitterness, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.  Even though I was by myself I said aloud “Holy crap…I get it”.  What I just experienced in the car is what I’ve been experiencing in my life.  I know the path that I am supposed to be on.  I don’t exactly know where it leads, but I do know the path.  I am happy when I am on that path, but often times there are obstacles that cause progress on that path to slow down…or even stop.  When that happens I start looking for other paths to move to that seem to be moving towards a goal much quicker, and when I find one I jump on it.  That does move me forward towards that goal…but not on the path that I should be on.  I feel it, but move anyway.  When that new path meets resistance, sometimes years later, I end up back on my original path and feel good again.

Cliche or not, It’s about the journey, not the destination.  I know this, not because of the thousands of books it’s written in, but by the feeling that I have when I’m on the path that I should be on.  Even when progress slows to a halt on my path, it still feels more peaceful in my chest than when I’m off of it.

Find some quiet today and think about the path that you are on.  Is it yours?

Remember Your Audience…and Your Administrators

There are many solutions for creating a website.  For quite some time now I’ve been going back and forth between SharePoint,  Drupal, and iWeb for sites that I’ve created.  Although I like Drupal, I’ve noticed that when I hand that site over to the person that I’ve made it for, sometimes what seems simple to me is scary to the non-geeks of the world.

When I write, I am always aware of who my audience is.  When I create a site, I am also aware of my audience…but until now it has been limited only to the viewers of the site and not the administrator of the site.  If it is confusing to update or even add content to a site, then there is a good chance that it won’t happen.  Stale content was fine five or ten years ago, but not today.  Fresh content keeps people coming back to your site.

This brings me to WordPress.  I have been using it for years to do simple sites like this just to give me a very quick outlet to blog about something, but I never thought of it as anything more than that.  A lot has changed apparently.  Like Drupal, it is open source, AND has a large community behind it that create, maintain, and update plugins and widgets constantly.  So much has changed since I dove into it last.  You can do e-commerce, galleries, ads, have user-roles, etc.  I wouldn’t say that it is as powerful as Drupal…but I will say that it is a heck of a lot easier.  Not only easier to build, but a lot easier to administer.  Heck, you can even post to your blog directly from Microsoft Word 2007.  Even a non-geek can keep their content fresh using that method.

Now, what will I be creating next with WordPress?  Subscribe to this blog and you will find out.

Presentations that keep you awake – Possible?

Decide for yourself.  Click to watch.

Presentations that wake you up – Possible?

Nexus S – The real news is in the software

It wasn’t too long ago that the tech news was filled with stories about Google’s phone failure in the form of the Nexus One.  Most of the fault was put on Google’s marketing and distribution, and to tell you the truth I didn’t see many bad reports on the phone itself, just the phone’s sales.  But it was still clear that “Google will be stepping out of the hardware arena and will focus instead on the software side of the house”.

Well, apparently that is not the case with the new buzz about Google’s Nexus S.  It will be the first phone to have Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which on the surface is not much of a jump from 2.2.  However, looking at the official Android Developers Site you can pull out a very important paragraph from the rest of the mundane upgrades.

Android 2.3 adds API support for several new sensor types, including gyroscope, rotation vector, linear acceleration, gravity, and barometer sensors. Applications can use the new sensors in combination with any other sensors available on the device, to track three-dimensional device motion and orientation change with high precision and accuracy. For example, a game application could use readings from a gyroscope and accelerometer on the device to recognize complex user gestures and motions, such as tilt, spin, thrust, and slice.

Adding the capability of these new sensors could be another “game-changer” in the tech world.  It allows outside-the-box developers to come up with incredible new apps that haven’t even been imagined before now.  I am a card-carrying iPhone user, but I do have dreams of developing apps for all mobile platforms in the future (read: iOS, Android, and WinPhone7…sorry RIM, you’re dead to me).  And when the new android apps that use these sensors start to get some serious press I’m sure that Apple and Microsoft will start adding them into their next build as well.

Windows Phone 7 – First Review

While enjoying some down-time with my family at the mall this weekend, I had the opportunity to check out the new Windows Phone 7 platform for both T mobile, and AT&T.  Although Windows Phone 7 looks promising, my experience was underwhelming.  I went into Best Buy Mobile, which specializes in mobile devices…that’s ALL they sell.  They only had one Windows Phone 7 device, and it was AT&T’s HTC Surround.  The device felt cheap, and I didn’t like the slide-out speaker at all.  How did it function?  I HAVE NO IDEA!  The only phone they had there was not functional, and just had a picture of what it should look like on the screen.  The teenager working there told me that they were hardly selling any of the windows phones, and then promptly tried to show me a Dell Android phone that was the size of my shoe.  Really…the windows phones aren’t selling?!?  Maybe it’s because people want to see how it functions before they buy it.

Next, I went into the T Mobile shop where they had a functioning HTC HD7 phone.  Although the phone didn’t seem much bigger than my iPhone, the screen was a good inch or so larger, and a bit wider as well.  This not only improved the browsing experience, but it also improved the typing.  I was easily able to navigate within the UI without getting lost (something I feared from the first time I saw a demo of the operating system), and the tiles didn’t annoy me as much as I thought they would.  My app experience was very limited since it wasn’t connected to the Marketplace, but the things I did play with seemed to work quickly and effortlessly.  The two problems that I have with this phone are 1) battery life would probably have me plugging in before the end of the day.  2) it’s T Mobile.  There is very little chance that I would give up my iPhone, and even less chance that I would sign with T Mobile for 2 years to do it.

Last, I happened by a kiosk that had fake windows phone 7’s out and overheard the salesman telling a customer that they can’t put the real ones out there because there are too many thefts.  Two salesmen are sitting in a 6ft x 6ft square, and they can’t keep an eye on the handful of phones that are tethered to the counter.  Amazing.

It is being reported that only 40,000 Windows Phone 7’s sold on the day of release.  I think part of that problem was not having the full line of functioning phones at every store and every kiosk at the time the phones were released.  Microsoft might have missed out on the WOW-factor, and now that the negative news has broke all over the net about the poor sales, people who would have given it a chance may look to the other two players (no, I don’t consider RIM a player in the iPhone game).

I will hold out on any further reviews until I have a chance to play with someone’s actual phone and can test out the app and game experience.  I am also holding my breath to see if any HD7-like devices come available for AT&T in the next year or so.  As of this post I am not impressed with any of the other phones available for this platform.

Facebook “integrated” with Windows Phone 7

Facebook on WP7

When Apple announced “Ping”, there was some talk around the water cooler (read: co-workers desk) that Ping was not too impressive, but that it’s possible that it’s just the beginning.  What if, for instance, Apple bought Facebook and integrated it into Ping.

Well, as I read this morning, it is Microsoft that is integrating with Facebook and owns part of the company.  They worked directly with Zuckerberg to rework the way FB will look and work on a mobile device.

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my iPhone and am satisfied with how facebook works on the iPhone.  But having the ability to take a picture and have that picture post to facebook instantly without having to open the app is a nice feature that will be available on WP7.  And I’m sure that this is just the beginning.  I can see many many apps that can be developed for WP7 that could make use of the new “integrated” Facebook.  Time will only tell if this is a “big step” in social networking, or just “big hype”.

Side Note: Watching the PDC10 event and realized that Steve Ballmer looks like a slightly thinner Tommy Boy.

Apple: Apps on a Desktop

Ok, what’s going on here.  One week ago I watched the “Back to Mac” keynote and was so excited I almost needed to breathe into a paper bag.  Yesterday I took back my Apple TV, decided that iLife ’11 wasn’t a “need” for me right now, and denounced the new MacBook Air.  Crazy.
Why is iLife ’11 not a “need”?  Well, I don’t have time to use Garage Band, don’t have time or ambition to mess with my 5000+ pictures, and still think that making the trailers in iMovie will be really really cool…the first few times I do it and that’s it.  So I figure I can wait awhile before upgrading.
The MacBook Air, while looking just as sturdy as the MacBook Pro, is not what I thought it would be.  It looks like a netbook, and there’s a reason for that.  It is meant to be a “better” netbook (as the apple chick at the store told me).  It doesn’t even have a CD drive, and although it uses flash memory which is faster, she said “don’t even thinking about using this thing for something like Final Cut Pro”.  It’s basically meant for the average Joe who will spend 95% of his time surfing, checking email, or creating documents and stuff.
I did have one positive thing that I thought about Apple this morning though.  Apps on the desktop.  What makes an app on a desktop different from an application?  The answer is Touch.  If you took the same apps from your phone and put them on the desktop but then had to use a standard mouse to use them, they would absolutely suck.  So in order for apps on a desktop to work, Apple would have to change the way people used a desktop….and they freaking did that.  First they started implementing the trackpad in their laptops that made use of multi-touch.  Then they came out with the magic mouse.  Then they came out with the stand-alone multi-touch track pad.  Those were all baby steps that were needed before they ever could announce apps on a desktop.  Otherwise, everyone would have said “Apps on a desktop is stupid…it’s no different than an application”.

Will Google TV be a blessing or a curse?

As most of you know Apple came out with their new version of Apple TV a few weeks ago and at first I wanted it. Then after a few weeks of reading articles about it I found that the networks weren’t jumping aboard the Apple ship like a lot of people (myself included) thought they would. For people like me that only watch about three shows on TV it would be perfect. I could rent the new episodes on my schedule for only $0.99 each and get rid of my Direct TV. But now that it is looking like the shows that I want won’t be available Apple TV doesn’t look as hot anymore.

Enter Google TV. What?!? What the hell is Google TV. Yeah, I only found out about it yesterday myself. Basically, you connect some hardware to your TV (just like Apple TV) and now you are mixing internet with your TV experience. But on top of that you will soon be able to use Android Apps (which I never really loved on my Droid), and be able to use Google’s search technology to find what you want to watch even if that might be a YouTube video. But I’m not sold yet.

A year from now will GoogleTV and/or Apple TV be threatening to take over cable? And if so, what is Google’s model going to be? Free cable but maybe you will be blasted with targeted ads while you watch? And for those opting not to get the ads they can go the Apple TV route and pay to rent?

Or…the most likely possibility…the networks will come together to kill both Apple and Google TV by not dealing with them at all.

WordPress from iPhone

As you can see from my last post, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. With my newborn daughter at home, my son in town for the summer, and a new position at work it’s been very hard to get online for anything non-work related. A few weeks ago the clouds parted and a light from heaven came down to my open hand leaving behind the Holy Grail. Ok so the light was from the Apple sign and the Grail was actually an iPhone 3GS…but u get the idea.

Few things have positively impacted my life as much as this new gadget. It does what I want it to without having to think about it. Intuitive is an understatement. With over 65,000 apps, I am constantly finding new tools to help me do whatever it is I need to do. For example, right this second I am holding my daughter in one arm, watching my sons in karate class, and writing this blog in the WordPress app that was free on my iPhone. What’s not to love. Look for some new blogs from me any time I get the urge to multitask.

Vitamin D linked to Mental Illness?!? That explains it

My 30-year project

I read a great article about how Vitamin D deficiencies (lack of sunlight) are linked to mental illness.  That made me start thinking…my cubicle-farm J.O.B. is driving me crazy…LITERALLY!!!  It all makes sense now.  People back in the Little House on the Prairie days used to all work outside in the sun (come on now half-pint…you know you used to watch it).  Now we are herded into our 6×6 cubicle from sun-up to sun-down and they wonder why people are always on edge and stressed out.  Hmmm, I think I just may have to do a 30-year study on working out in the sun.  Anyone care to fund my project?

Does a magic kiss from mom really heal?

I was listening to an old CD this week on my long commute to work from my new home.  Optimistically, I get 45 minutes of quality audio-book or audio-course time.  Of course on days that I am driving my 7 year old to school we opt for the local country station…but I digress.

The CD was from one of Anthony Robbins courses and it included an interview with Deepak Chopra.  Deepak spoke of studies that were done in which people were given stimulants but told they were barbituits.  Not only did the person behave like he was on barbituits, but his body reacted like he was on barbituits.  Apparently whatever the mind thinks is real the body reacts to.  He also said there were people that were given a placebo and told it was a powerful chemo drug for cancer and their hair started falling out and gums started bleeding and everything.

This made me think about children.  When a child gets hurt or falls down, what is the parents reaction?  “Come here I’ll kiss it and make it better”.  Us adults laugh at the naive nature of the children, but if what Deepak says is true, then that kiss by the parent IS really making that boo boo better.  And the difference between that kiss being an ordinary kiss and a magic kiss all comes down to sales. 

What are your thoughts on this?  If you didn’t know, that’s what my comments section is for.  ;-P

Kettlebell Training

I’ve been doing a bit of research and have been seeing a lot of good info on kettlebell training.  Look for a series of posts that will delve into the little-known world of kettlebells.  In the meantime, check out this article!

Caffeine: A retailer’s best friend

I have said many times awhile back that Starbucks was a great business plan. Once it became “cool” to drink coffee Starbucks and other coffee shops started springing up all over the place. And why not? After all, once people started to drink coffee drinks it would no longer be a luxury…it would become a NECESSITY!

Coming from someone who “quit the coffee” a few times and am still off of it today, I know that caffeine is a drug. Every time I quit drinking it I had to go through a week or two (or three the first time) with severe withdrawal symptoms. Migraine-level headaches that hurt worse just walking into a bright room; cold-sweats; nausea; and the urge where “I gotta have just a 1/2 of a cup….COME ON MAN…I need it, you don’t understand”!.

But Starbucks never hit the whole market. Even when a handful of my friends were knocking back 3 or 4 lattes a day I had another handful of friends that couldn’t stand the taste of coffee.

Enter the energy drinks. Red Bull started becoming popular among the “geek” crowd, and when all of their competition realized that energy drinks were the “non-coffee-drinkers coffee”, new energy drinks popped up almost daily it seemed.

Since I quit the coffee, AND am working crazy hours, I fell prey to thinking I would just have an energy drink or two here and there to get me through the long work hours. One Amp here, one Monster there…what’s the harm?!? The harm is that I started feeling like I was drinking coffee again. By that I mean I would feel awake while I was drinking it and an hour later would feel like it was time to roll out my little rug for nap-time. I need something with sustained energy all day. No spikes, no drops. So my wife gives me a Vitamin Energy last night after a long day of moving to get me through the last 45 min drive back home. I loved it because it was by the makers of Vitamin Water so it had to be good. I decided to look it up today and couldn’t believe that the can had more caffeine in it than a double-shot at Starbucks. Ugggg.

And now for the “Duh” moment: I am telling my wife that I like the Vitamin Water (before I knew about the caffeine), and telling her that I need to find some more of that and her reply was “Why don’t you just take B6”. Genius! All of the good stuff that these energy drinks are trying to sell you on, you can just take as a vitamin. So when my energy is down I don’t have to look for some energy drink or coffee to boost me back up, I can just pick up some vitamins and have the sustained energy I’m looking for. And the bonus is that a 30 day supply cost about as much as a day’s worth of energy drinks.

Why we blame others

My son was on “yellow” today at school.  For those of you who don’t know, there is a daily discipline chart for 1st graders that uses the colors of a street-light to tell the parents if they were good (green), bad (red), or somewhere in between (yellow).   Back in my day they had a similar chart, but it was black and blue…and it was on your backside.  If you were bad your chart would be black and blue…but I digress.

I asked him why he was on yellow and immediately he started with “…well Johnny was the one who…”.  You get the idea.  I then asked him why every time I question him why he’s not on green his answer is always due to someone else.  Reply “…but it really was Johnny”.  This made me start thinking about whether blaming someone or something else is a learned trait, or are we born with this skill genetically imprinted in our brains the way that dogs know to eat grass when they aren’t feeling well.  And at what point do we realize we are doing it and stop it.

After thinking about this for a few minutes it dawned on me that I used this skill as recently as that same freaking hour!  Unbelievable!  My beautiful wife was getting on my case for the shotty paint job I did cutting-in on the walls at our new house.  Immediately I blamed it on the fact that I didn’t have the metal edge tool that I wanted to buy from Home Depot.  Then I deflected the blame over to the fact that I had taped it and the tape didn’t work.  Luckily my survival skills kicked in before I was able to shift the blame on her.

So why is it so blatantly obvious that my 7 year old is doing it, but oblivious to me that I am?  Anthony Robbins says it’s because everything we do in life is motivated by either avoiding pain or seeking pleasure.  Makes sense to me.

How do we stop it?  Bring it into the light.  Focus on it.  The next time you are backed into a corner try to recognize it and take responsibility.  In the above example I could have said “I’m sorry baby…I will try to put more effort into painting the next room”.

Now it’s your turn.  Think about how many fights will be stopped in their tracks if you start a new habit of accepting the blame.  For the next 14 days make it a personal challenge to seek out opportunities to accept the blame.  I’m positive that you will find some…well maybe not you Jesus…but the rest of us will.

I’m hooked on MINT! How refreshing

Thanks to a blog post from Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi, I’ve discovered this wonderful tool called Mint. Think of quicken or Microsoft Money…and now picture them actually being web-based and user friendly. Refreshing, huh. Now picture them being completely free!!!

It took me only a few minutes to create an account and setup my bank accounts and credit card accounts. Then I added my 401k, and loans. Last I added my rental properties and car. It’s that easy.

It automatically updates all of my accounts daily giving me a complete view of all of my finances. I even get emails and/or text messages telling me when bills are due or if I went over my budgets.

Best of all, it analyzes my bank accounts, and credit cards to see if my interest rates or fees are too high, and then recommends better ones.

Don’t take my word for it…check it out yourself. I get absolutely NOTHING for advertising this, so it should tell you how much I like it.

Don’t resist the resistance bands!

When I arrived tonight for my second shift of the day, I was greeted by a friend that took my advice and bought the T.O. Bands.  (Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Read this previous blog post, or click on the ad in the upper right corner of this page).

Now that he has them he will be starting one of the workout routines, and trying to stick to the diet as well.  I will be posting updates at least once a week on his progress.  FYI – I put the two 30 lb. bands on and couldn’t even do one standing bicep curl.  That rocks!!!

Have you tried working out with resistance bands yet?  If so, I would love to hear about your experiences.  Just leave a quick comment.

Sorry Blogosphere…Family First!!!

This will be a slow blogging week for me, as I have a couple life-changing events going on.  Today I closed on a new (read: new to me) home, and on Saturday I will be getting married to the girl of my dreams.  Between my new wife, her 7 year old son, my 12 year old son, two horses, a dog, and a turtle, I think our family is in for a great life ahead.  Oh, did I mention that our daughter will be making her first appearance into this world in early June?!?  Busy doesn’t quite paint the true picture…but you get the idea.  I will try to get in another post as soon as I can, but with family coming from all over the states I can’t promise it will be this week.  Until then you might see a tweet or two from me if you care to follow me on twitter.  On there I’m parisj13.

Until then…

Does this STRESS make me look fat?

Told ya it was from stress...now pass the donuts

Yes…it’s not the DRESS that is making you look fat…it’s the STRESS!

Research shows that your body does not distinguish between the stress of running from a bear or from trying to meet your boss’s unreasonable deadlines. To your body it’s ALL stress. To help you escape from that bear, your body will increase your heart rate, lower your sensitivity to pain, and increase the amount of Cortisol secreted by the adrenal glands. Cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone”, increases the flow of glucose, fat, and protein into your bloodstream to help with your fight or flight situation.

So Cortisol is good…if you are running from a bear. But if you are sitting in a cubicle all day, then this chronic stress can lead to fat around the abdomen. And this isn’t the ordinary “under the skin” fat. This is Visceral fat, which is the bad stuff that lead to heart attacks and strokes. This is why people have been saying “stress kills”.

Here’s the good news: Stress isn’t bad in spurts. It’s constant stress that’s the killer. So break up your stressful day by exercising. Get some resistance bands, like the ones in the upper right corner of this screen, and pull them out of your briefcase when you feel the stress mounting. After a couple quick sets you will feel the stress start melting away. If the boss man starts giving you flack about working out in your cubicle, take it outside! No, you Neanderthal, I didn’t mean punch him in the nose…go outside for a “smoke break”. If that loud mouth down the hall can take ten 7 minute smoke breaks a day I’m sure you can get away with one or two.

Don’t worry about your co-workers seeing you. Just send them to my blog and don’t be surprised if they aren’t out there joining you for a mini 7-minute workout session.

Getting a good treadmill workout is an UPHILL battle

Up the incline!

Raise your hand if you hate running on a treadmill.  Ok, not all of you, but a good number.  I LOVE running outdoors, but when it’s cold out I’m a big wuss.  Yes, I am from Buffalo, and I did spend 3 years in Alaska…but I still hate the cold.  So what’s a guy to do when you are unwilling to run in the cold?!?  Treadmill.

Why do I dislike it so much?  Well, I don’t get the spiritual benefit that I do being out in nature for one.  But mainly, it doesn’t seem to help me when I’m on the pavement.  I spent 2 months a couple of winters ago running religiously on a treadmill so that I would be in good running shape in the spring.  I’d be running on that damn treadmill and sweating my butt off.  But when I started running on the pavement in the spring it was as if I had not ran at all over the winter.  I could barely do a mile before my legs were burning and my heart was pounding through my chest. 

Why does this happen?  I have no idea.  Please use my comments section to fill me in.  I did try something new though, and I’m hoping that it will help me this spring.  When on the treadmill, I will start off flat, and every 30 seconds I will bump it up 1 on the incline until I can’t go any higher.  Then I bring it down 1 at a time.  I really feel like I’m getting a workout when I do this…but we will see if it helps any in a couple weeks. 

Please…any better ideas, let me know.

Screw Ovaltine…Drink your nice hot Creatine!

Ok, Ok, You can drink your creatine IN your Ovaltine

No, you won’t get a handy dandy secret decoder ring from drinking creatine, but you will get a slew of benefits.  They range from increased muscle strength and endurance, to reducing cholesterol by up to 15%.  Studies are being conducted on the therapeutic effects of creatine for diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and even muscular dystrophy (MD).  As a parent of a child with diabetes, I am especially interested in the fact that creatine has been known to moderate glucose levels in patients with diabetes.

Yes, I hear you.  All together now “Tell me something I don’t know”.  Well, since you asked…did you know that creatine is better absorbed and useful to your body if you drink it in a warm beverage such as hot tea?  Add a teaspoon of sugar and you will get that small “spike” in insulin to help it get into the muscle cells.  Be careful though not to make the water too hot.  Boiling water will destroy the creatine, so make sure it is drinkable before adding the powder. 

I use tea, but it’s only because I’m “off the coffee”.  Put it in whatever you like, but make sure it’s at least warm.  You will lose 65% of the creatine if you put it in something cold. 

One blog is not enough for you to decide if you are going to start taking a new supplement.  So do your research.  There’s TONS of it out there.  Don’t be lazy, it will take you like 15 min.