Briefs

  • Being sick sucks.

    After the very, very busy summer I had I suppose it was bound to happen. I came back from a 10 day trip to FL/CA in which very little sleep occurred, got a root canal, then went out for another sleep-deprived weekend that included a 21 hour day (a great day, by the way – if you have a chance to see Zac Brown Band in concert, do it).

    On Monday my body said enough is enough and I was down for the count for a couple of sleep filled days. I’m just about 100% now and ready for the Fall!

    August 27, 2015

  • What a week! I just got back from sunny California, where I went to Disneyland, the d23 Expo, and the Burbank studio lot, as well as visited with friends at CigarPress 2015. As I will not be able to sum all of that up in 100 words, expect another post or two.

    My 2 Months with the iPhone got picked up by BGR and made a big splash. It even got tweeted by Phil Schiller!

    Finally, I spent the week putting my new Nikon D3300 to the test. I shot mostly manual and loved it. I got some great shots. Album to come.

    August 18, 2015

  • I just wrote 1700+ words about the iPhone. That post will publish tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it.

    I did this using iA Writer on my iPad flying down to Florida. It was a pretty nice experience, given I got the QODE Keyboard Case by Belkin. It’s great. I strongly recommend it.

    The other great part of the experience was after I wrote it on the iPad, I booted up iA Writer on my Mac, and the file was just there, making moving it over to WordPress a breeze.

    Handoff/sync is a great feature. But more on that tomorrow.

    August 9, 2015

  • Last night while reading a new book on my roof I witnessed smoke coming from a building several blocks away. “Something is definitely on fire.”

    I snapped a few photos and told some friends and family. One friend was on a scanner giving me updates while I also checked social media. All-in-all it was a pretty interesting experience.

    No one got hurt thankfully but they are demo’ing the building today. At one point, the declared “imminent collapse” of one of the sides of the building.

    In the photos you’ll see mostly smoke & flames. New camera will be here tomorrow.

    August 6, 2015

  • I came across a story today with the headline How your smartphone’s battery life can be used to invade your privacy. I only read part of it, but I assume it’s completely sensational nonsense. So for today’s post, I’d like to make up some more sensation headlines about privacy.

    Using deeply personal device that is constantly connected to Internet may compromise privacy

    Posting your activities online may be used to invade your privacy

    Doing things outside may compromise privacy

    Telling people what you did last night may be invasion of privacy

    If you do anything people might know

    Please. Stop.

    August 5, 2015

  • I don’t fancy myself a designer in any sense. Yes I make websites and tinker with Photoshop. I’d like to be one. But I’m not.

    That said, Sticker Mule recently had a Dribbble Contest to show off your favorite summer activity and I decided to try my hand. It would be a fun way to get better.

    Sticker Mule then asked if I’d like to list my design on their marketplace and I obliged! You can now buy my sticker, Summertime Cigar over at Sticker Mule. I ordered a 5 pack for myself and can’t wait for them to come in!

    summertime-cigar

    August 4, 2015

  • I finished reading Ready Player One yesterday, continuing my summer where I actually read books. It was a truly fantastic, easy, and entertaining book. I strongly recommend it. 

    I’ve really enjoyed taking time out of my day to just read. Usually I’ll go to my roof with a paperback and read up there, cigar in hand. There are no screens to distract me; just the sounds of the city, the sunset, and a book.

    It’s a very peaceful experience and a nice way for me to log off for a couple of hours. I think I will keep it up.

    August 2, 2015

  • Remember that time I referenced a post I hadn’t written yet? Well here it is! I was discussing the apparent topic of the week: my soon to be revived TIL podcast. I mentioned that I decided not to do another general learning podcast because, well, there’s a lot of them. About 8 months ago, I wrote a post about which ones I listen to. Here’s an update to that post.

    All great podcasts (and Lore is new). All have a great hook.

    July 31, 2015

  • I’m getting the itch to write another book. It’s been about 2 years since I really got into the groove of writing Responsive Design with WordPress and about a year and a half since it came out.

    I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas to coincide with other projects I’m working on, including 100 Words and TIL Podcast. Perhaps a book of short stories or something.

    I do have other ideas for tech books – specifically WordPress – but I want to seek a broader audience. I’m not sure I’m ready to write a fiction book yet, but something with more appeal, definitely.

    July 30, 2015

  • I’ve been thinking more about the TIL Podcast and what I need to do to make it a show people will actually listen to. I need a good hook to draw people in, and I’m not entirely sure one that’s just, “I learned stuff,” is good. See Friday’s post for why (spoiler: there are a lot of them).

    I’m thinking about doing, “Things I Learned Offline.” It might be a good hook and there is human interaction. I can build a story about how I came into the info, and the present the fact at the end of the show.

    July 29, 2015