Things I learned today

Time passes by rather quickly when I'm actually focused on work. (duh)

I need to shoot my photos in RAW, get Aperture 3, and switch to an iPhone or get a GPS logger. I went to the Aperture brown bag at lunch today. It's just made of win. The way things are organized, the geo-tagging features, the brushes, and the slide shows. I can't possibly list out everything I have seen in the past hour. They are all things I can use. I really need to finish cataloging my photos and get Aperture.

Damn pants...

I would be kicking myself right now if my pants allow the range of movement. It was a terrible decision to get these and then wear these pants to work. True that I can get myself into them. But can I breath? Think? Rid of the headache it's causing? No. A couple more hours and I can be free of them. If my head doesn't explode first.

Progress!

It was painful and long, but I finally managed to install WordPress on my laptop hosted by my own Apache server. Now that I got the basic setup ready, I can really start to dive in. I'm looking forward to it. In the mean time, I'm running out of battery.

Relative time

I had a brief moment of questioning my reality in the elevator. I went downstairs to pick up the daily mail and the coffee bar was still open. It's around 12 and I had to do a double take. A co-worker rode the elevator up with me. These are all the elements familiar to me at about 9 in the morning, not 12. For a moment I lost touch with when I was. Sorry Doctor, time travel won't suit me.

New Era?

I finally got around to install a development server on my laptop last night. Finally! I just sat down last night, flipped opened my developer books and figured out how to do it. Granted it took forever to download the package I wanted so I would have an easy install, but never the less I finally did it. I installed it this morning and was able to see the splash page before I had to had into work.

I have not started to use WordPress and I already love it. I read that I will be able to import blogs from... well... blogger. That is quite exciting for me because I would love to migrate all of my various blogs over at some point. I know this entry really should go on my "projects" blog, but screw it. It's not going to matter when I start to mash everything together and separate it by tags.

I'm in the process of transferring all of my photos into iPhoto. I had way too much fun with Faces the other night. This will make attaching photos much quicker when I get around to start posting. Things are finally starting to move along. I've had that domain name for almost 3 years now. I think it's time to put some meat on it.

When did I stop having fun?

I might have mentioned this on facebook earlier this week... I was on my way home from work one evening and was at a stop light. I looked to my right and there was this guy, probably in his 40's, sitting in his blue Tahoe and eating a chocolate dipped ice cream bar. My first thought was just general amusement. My second thought was, "I want that, why am I not doing that?" It was just a weird week for me. I had just read David Foster Wallace's Kenyon College Commencement, and it got me thinking. This man's action in relative to me was a fleeting moment of amusement. What led him to the conclusion to procure an ice cream bar to be what appears to be an after-work snack.

To each their own.

That guy at the freeway exit

I always feel bad and look away when there is somebody standing there with a cardboard sign at the freeway exit. On an intellectual level I just don't get it. How is it possible that someone can be reduced to standing there at the corner waiting for a handout? I feel like helping but I know it will only be enabling.  So I look away, straight ahead to the turn light.

I'm about to go shopping. Does it make me a bad person to spend more money on stuff I don't need on myself rather then giving it to the have-not?

iWeb

I used iWeb for about 10 minutes tonight. It was simple, elegant, content driven, easy to use, and absolutely not for me. It has some good ideas and definitely easy to throw a quick and dirty web page online. Not something I can deal with. Now that I'm done with this detour, I can go back to real work. I didn't get all those books for nothing. About time I get to work. At least now my equipment works.

I almost forgot how much I love my little netbook. Ok I give up and called it a netbook. Trend driven, I am. It is really the only device I can use to write. I can concentrate on the words. It's probably because of the restricted work area it provides. It just forces my eyes towards a single thing.

I can't look at the screen any more. I've done more then my normal share of work today while staring at the screen. I shouldn't subject myself to more of that when I should be resting. Maybe I'll go for a long drive tomorrow.

Wide Open

I finally decided to take things into my own hands last night.... at 12:30. I took my handy Leatherman, unscrewed all 19 tiny screws off my Macbook Pro, and proceed to reconnect the airport card with my tweezers. I'm getting rusty. I've had the short range problem since I picked this up before Christmas. Forums were not help. I can't even find a diagram. I asked a friend for help last week and he mentioned it could be a lose antenna. It honestly didn't even click until maybe around 12 last night. I'm getting rusty.

I think I'm getting bored. With life in general. I keep putting of my wants to defer to others. I've spent so many years working on goal after goal. School, get a job, get a stable job, get a full time stable job. Now that I have it, I don't know what to do with myself. I don't know how to take a vacation, how to explore, how to have fun.

O Canada!

I was at dinner last night with company and they asked what we will be doing today.  Hockey of course, I replied.  Who will be playing?  US versus Canada, I said matter of factly.  I have long shed the indignate tone because I finally understood that not many people I know are as passionate about hockey as I am.  I hope we win, he then said.  I just offered an understanding smile. 

A few days ago my senior VP asked if I was Canadian.  What does that really mean? I wondered. 

I find all of this funny.  While watching the Olympics the last couple weeks.  The games are suppose to bring people as one and compete best against the best.  It somehow brings a bout of extreme nationalism.  I just don't feel like people get the point. 

Resonance

Maybe I've been watching too much TV and my brain is fried.  My personal theory about what attracts me to certain programming is that there is something about the show that resonate with my life.  What does that say about me when my favorites in the past and present are of lonely anti-heros. 

Last couple of days I feel like I want to come to my own.  I feel like I've been living my life trying to please other people.  Sometimes I just feel alone.  I want a true companion.  Somebody I can talk to and share adventures with.  I also feel my life to be ordinary.  I want to feel like a badass.  I want to feel special.  My own brand of special.  I know I am capable of it. I'm rambling again.  I'm tired of doing things just for the benefits of others.  When am I going to start doing things just for me?

Rings

I am never the first one to trifle over my jewery.  Never the less I felt like I made some life decisions by changing my rings. 

For a fews years now I have worn a spinner ring with faux celtic knots on my left ring finger.  I  don't believe in leaving it empty until somebody puts a ring on it.  When I first got this ring it was where it looked good and where it fits.  I got it at the jewelry stall that is open once in a while on school campus.  When I saw it I fell in love with it and that is it.  It was at a point in my life when I finally started to feel like I'm my own person.  I don't even remember how much I paid for it.  It didn't matter.  It was worth it because I chose it and it fits me perfectly.  It is quirky and always changing.

A few months ago I went shopping at Marc Jacobs for my cousin and picked up a couple of rings with latin inscribed on it.  I don't remember what they said exactly but I avoided the ones that spoke of love and promises.  So there it was, for month I wore those two rings with words I did not understand like fractured tablets guiding me to nowherew fast. 

Last week I was looking for an old chain to wear a new pandent and stumbled upon an old favorite. A left-handed ring I bought a decade ago that used to fit like a glove.  It was at least a size and a half too big.  What it was, what I was didn't fit me anymore.  How far I have come in the last decade.

Before I left home tonight I put my spinner back on.  Comfortable in my own skin.  One I have chosen for myself.

Dusk or Dawn

The weather this weekend was unbelievably beautiful. It felt like spring.

I stepped out of work on Monday evening and was hit with a familiar feeling. The sky was in a hue of turquoise blue, birds where chirping. The heat of the afternoon was dissipating. The air was crisp but not cold. It was strangely familiar, but it was a feeling from a long time ago.

I took another deep breath while walking to my car and it hit me. It felt like stepping out of my apartment, walking towards class after a sleepless night working on a project. 6 am on a late spring morning. The combination of exhaustion and the feeling of accomplishment. That was what I felt then.

one leaf

I came across a tumblr call write one leaf a few weeks back. I love the concept. A small writing prompt without any restrictions or expectations. I've been thinking about using the prompts. I started thinking about in what platform I should write it in. Maybe I should start a new tumblr for it, or maybe I can add it to my existing tumblr. I can't work it out. When I put it that way, there are so many different factors to consider. Why not just write.

The Meaning

Never ceases to amaze me how some people can get so far in life and can't write for the life of them. I honestly don't think I understood at least a quarter of the email I just received. I shouldn't have to read it out loud to catch the intent. The conversational tone should not be a dominant feature when communicating an idea. No you don't sound cool. You sound more like a babbling idiot. I would rather you leave me alone, thank you very much.

Something Profound

I was thinking this morning while I was reading some posts on tumblr, I want to be somebody who writes something profound. I stopped writing for a while. I didn't think I had much to write about. All I was able to put down were boring everyday rants. It occurred to me this morning that I never write about the little things. I'm able to grasp that concept photographically and not literally.

My favorite of the photographs I have taken over the past few years are often highlights of nature. Close up of plants and animals. It messes with your sense of scale and makes you appreciate the small things. The most boring shots are of big sweeping landscape that doesn't have a central focus. And yet that is how I write. I try to capture everything in my writing. It becomes unfocused and boring. All of it looks the same and tends to blend in together. Perhaps I should start with small pieces just focusing on one or two subject matter.