Archive for August, 2008
August 24, 2008 at 8:55 pm · Filed under General
I have a tendancy to take the path of least resistance. The middle of the road is where I’m most comfortable, so that’s where I tend to stay. When I buy something, it’s never the most expensive and never the least expensive. Why we built our first house, it was designed in shades of brown. In Street Fighter, I was always Ryu. With a few exceptions I’ve avoided risk whenever possible. Recently though, a few people in my life have exemplified the value of risk and it’s got me thinking.
The first is a coworker. He left Statusfirm to pursue his own ambitions. On the risk spectrum, leaving your job to pursue your dreams has to be right up at the top. Yet, to me at least, not following through is the bigger risk. There is certainly a lot to be said for a safe corporate job. It’s easy enough to sit back, receiving regualar paycheques, and watch the world go by. It’s easier still to sit on an idea and, years later when someone else does it, think to yourself “that could have been me, that was my idea. I should be a millionaire.” There’s no risk there, just self-pity and remorse. Chance are you would have failed had you tried, so it’s far safer to sit back gathering paycheques and waiting for someone else to try on your behalf. Failing is hard, and blaming others for following through on your idea is far too easy.
The other is my buddy Sean. Sean quit school, and moved from Edmonton to Vancouver to pursue his dream of making it in a band. School wasn’t making Sean happy, but had he continued on he could have comfortably passed (he had a high GPA). He could have easily gotten a safe job. He could have easily spent evenings strumming an acoustic, writing silly songs and wondering “what if.” There’s no shame in that, it’s what most sane people choose. But Sean chose to risk it all on the hope that he could find true happiness doing what he loved. It wasn’t easy (it still isn’t) and the chances of success are truly dismal. Yet, when Sean’s old and decrepid and he thinks back on his life, he’ll be able to say “I did everything I could to be happy, and chose an exciting life over a safe one.”
There’s nothing wrong with safety. There’s nothing wrong with seeking stability and going down the easy road. It’s how most people live their life. Sure you miss out on the highest of highs, but you never have to face the lowest of lows; for most of us that’s a fair trade. But I tend to reflect on the risks I’ve taken.
I chose to move to Edmonton, by myself, and stay in Canada while my parents went to live in Australia. My first time living away from home was in a strange city, and my safety net lived on the other side of the planet. I did this because I was in love with a girl. Such a silly, stupid thing to do. She even had a boyfriend; a surefire recipe for heartbreak if there’s ever been one.
I chose to drop out of the University of Alberta, to leave behind a few years of an Engineering degree because I knew it wasn’t what made me happy. I did this much to the chagrin of my parents, my extended family, and the Dean of the Engineering Faculty. It was unanimous that dropping out of school and forsaking a promising career was a really bad thing.
The girl did break my heart, and I probably broke hers. I ended up with a job I hated, making $12/hour (slightly more than my previous job at a grocery store). There were times when I thought to myself “this is too hard; I’ve made the wrong decision.” But I married that girl, and I love her with all of my heart. I’m passionate about what I do for a living, and I’ve managed to parlay it into a fairly successful career.
So while I tend towards the middle, without risk what would I have? Security? Safety? A different life, in a different world. The risks I’ve taken are the things that have made me the happiest. The risks that I’ve taken define who I am. So thanks to Sean and Ryan for reminding me that sometimes it’s worthwhile to gamble on happiness - even if the world thinks you’re crazy for doing so.
August 11, 2008 at 9:45 pm · Filed under General
A recent trip to Subway has left me with no doubt as to my lot in life. As part of a new contest we can win instantly with Subway Scrabble! Lucky me, instead of a free cookie I was presented with a learning moment:
Hey, thanks Subway… good to know that I’m not “winner” material. I’ve never had a fast food restaurant tell me - in no uncertain terms - that I’m not a winner, but I suppose it’s just as well that I learn my lesson now. Then again, Subway is no ordinary fast food restaurant; it’s the home of the “$30 Submarine Sandwich,” so I suppose they’ve earned the right to judge me.
At least they’re kind enough to take pity on me and encourage me to keep on trying. Though I’m not certain I read kindness in their words. I feel it’s the same “kindness” one sees in an overbearing football coach encouraging a fat kid to run one more lap, so that he can laugh at Fatty’s struggle prior to cutting him with a “sorry champ, but this is a winning team, and you’re not a winner.”
Subway, while I’m sure you stand behind your losing text, “Sorry, please try again” has never made me fee like a Father’s second favorite son. Excuse me while I go cry to myself.
August 6, 2008 at 6:00 am · Filed under iPhone
When the App Store was announced I was pumped. I seriously thought that this was going to be a game changer - especially when they started demoing their “built in two weeks” apps. This was some impressive stuff: accelerometers, phone, touch display, Mac OS; the stage was set for new hotness. So why are there no killer apps?
As of today (July 30, 08) the top ten paid apps are:
- Units Converter (Google does this for me, for free and better/faster)
- Brain Challenge (useless mini-games; this internet is full of them)
- Super Monkey Ball (admittedly, really fun)
- Texas Hold’em (yeah, I don’t know where I’d play poker for free without this…)
- Crash Bandicoot (haven’t played it, but the console versions were always lame)
- Units (again, Google’s got my back here)
- Tuner Internet Radio (might be okay, but pandora and Last.fm are free)
- OneTap Movies (almost a good idea, but again, Google is better and free)
- Tetris (wheeeee, if it was fun in ‘86 it must still be fun now, what with accelerometers and all.)
- A Level (literally, a bubble level. Why would I need this? Are there a lot of people doing construction using their $500 phones as tools?)
Top ten free apps:
- Labyrinth Lite Edition (it’s like Super Monkey Ball, but shitty!)
- Sudoku (well, at least I’m safe if the world runs out of newspapers)
- Facebook (their iPhone web app is way better, why would I want an app that does less?)
- Palringo Instant Messenger (no persistant applications + typing on an iPhone = crappy instant messenger)
- Tap Tap Revenge (admittedly, really fun)
- iPint (I can’t think of many things more useless than this)
- Apache Lander (*Keith shakes his head*)
- Remote (kinda neat - if you own a Mac)
- Showtimes (like OneTap Movies, but free! And not as good as Google!)
- Phone Saber (I’m a huge Star Wars nerd and I still think this is retarded)
There nothing in there that makes the iPhone a “must have.” Do you want to know what I think the best app on the iPhone is? Safari - because it makes pretty much every app listed above pretty much useless. If it’s already being done (and done well) on the web, why do I need a superfluous app cluttering my display? Where is the creativity and innovation? Why aren’t people making the most of this API?
The really cool apps all exist for JailBroken iPhones; NES emmulators, Skype, Qik, using the iPhone as a modem, Last.fm with scrobbling, etc. Now, many of these push the boundaries of the law (some more blatantly than others) but others can never exist on a legit iPhone because of Apple’s lame API. Things that instantly bother me about Apple’s API:
- Apps cannot run in the background (probably to save battery life, but how about we let me decide how I want to use my battery life? No?)
- Apps cannot access my music. Seriously? You’ve pretty much just added a phone to an iPod. Hell, the Touch is an iPod. Let the apps access my music. Stop copying, transferring, uploading, downloading, I don’t care, but let apps access my music. Custom playlists in games? Fancy pandora-esque apps that learn which band I like best? There are good ideas to be had there.
- A closed community. It’s an API that I can have full access to with an email address and a smile. Let me talk about it on my blog, ok?
- I want the ability to charge a licensing fee for an app, not just an outright purchase. Hook me up with some residuals people. Technically not an API problem…
As for good apps, I’d like to see some of these sooner than later:
- Voice memos. “How do I record audio from the built-in microphone?” is one of the first questions listed in the developer center. This cannot be overly difficult. Note: there is an app that does this now, I set this post to “appear in the future,” and while it was fermenting, someone launched YouNote. Thanks!
- Nuvi style GPS mapping. I know it’s coming soon, but I’m impatient.
- A simple photo editing application.
- A video camera app (Qik can do it, there might be a legit way).
- A physical training app (view my routine, videos of how to do the exercise, read descriptions, listen to music, enter progress, and be awesome).
- A decent time tracking app.
- Skype (I really doubt the telecos would ever let this one drop…)
- Putty (it would be really handy for we nerds).
That’s just off the top of my head! That’s 5 minutes of brainstorming! C’mon developers, we can do better than the twenty failures listed above!
To those of you who ask “if you have such great ideas, why don’t you build apps?” The answer is that I don’t own a Mac (yet). When I do, I will create apps which shame the shit heap currently available.
As a final note to developers around the world: Stop making apps that already have excellent web based equivalents. Safari already grants me easy access to them; you’re wasting your time! Focus on making something great and unique instead of something that’s already been done.
While I’m complaining about the iPhone:
- More storage please; the Touch fits 32GB, make the phone do it and we can be friends.
- For the love of all that is holy, when I’m typing and I rotate the phone 90 degrees rotate the keyboard. The wider keyboard is so much easier to use, yet the only application I’ve seen use it is Safari (thus cementing its status as the best iPhone app). My Blackberry has taught me to type with my thumbs, why are you trying to take this away from me? This cannot be all that hard!
- Copy & paste isn’t a feature. It’s a thing that ever device which accepts text input should be able to do.
- I can haz real battery life plz?
August 4, 2008 at 6:00 am · Filed under Internet
I’ve posted in the past about engaging in social networking. For some reason doing so has always rung hollow to me, and as such there was little lasting power. There have been a few which have tempted me initially, Facebook was briefly a blasty-blast, Plurk was a riot, and LinkedIn seemed like a good idea. Yet for each, the luster has faded and I am no longer engaged in the site.
Recently, I think I figured out why: I don’t like communicating with people I don’t know “in RL.” With all of the sites I’ve tried and initially enjoyed, there have been a group of people I know who used it first and drew me in. While there, I was just communicating with my friends via a new medium and it was a blast. Yet, with each there came a point where there would be strange voices in the conversation suddenly. Names I couldn’t place, and strangers I couldn’t put a face too. The sites which started out in good fun all became a place that was no longer “safe.” Of all the sites I’ve tried, Facebook is the only one I still visit occasionally, but it’s far easier to isolate myself among my friends on Facebook. There is a deep permissions system I can use to hide away where no one can see me. Facebook, for all of its privacy follies, is one of the safer places on the internet.
I’m not a overly private person. Google my name, or better still, my online identity, and you’ll find thousands of results. I’m definately out there - a lot more so than many people - but Google results aren’t engaging. They’re not a medium to communicate with me. To me it’s just a part of modern living. By and large, I am in control of the information that is available about me in those searches; it isn’t personally damning or embarassing. It doesn’t reflect who I am, or what I believe, and if it does, it’s because I’ve put it in this blog and I’m comfortable with people reading it. The rare exceptions are blog posts I wrote a long time ago and now shudder when I read them, but I leave them up, as a marker of who I used to be.
So with social networks, if I engage it’s because I feel safe to be myself. Once that safety is compromised, so too is my willingness to contribute. I wonder if I’m alone in this?
August 1, 2008 at 6:00 am · Filed under General
I am - by nature - unusually prone to avoiding sickness. So it’s with much confusion (and even more whining) that I’ve missed more days in the last two months due to sickness than in the three years leading up to it. The problem: mono (probably, it’s a long story). Seriously, what married, monogamous, 27 year old father gets mono? How did that even happen? I have a theory involving dirty utensils at a restaurant, but that’s irrelevant.
The net result is that I’m tired all of the time which leaves me feeling useless. It’s so super lame, and I don’t really like to whine, but seriously I feel really sorry for me. Poor Ali too, she now has to care for two babies full time, but mostly me; poor me.
It’s affecting every aspect of my life. I usually work from 0730 to 1730, taking an hour or so for lunch. It’s a nice, normal way to work. Mono-Keith works an average of five hours a day and is dog-ass tired when he drags himself home. To further point out how pathetic this is, it’s important to remember that I’m a web developer. I sit at a computer and make websites all day. Hell, I don’t even do that. I sit at a desk and help make sure that other people make websites all day.
I’m a fanatic about my lawn, and like to keep it neat and green. Now I don’t have the energy to mow it. I love to take pictures, but it’s hardly worth the effort right now. I’d like to take my baby to the park, or my dogs for a walk, but it’s just too much. I tried golfing and after 7 holes I was so tired I could barely drive the cart and then I was sick as a dog for three days after.
The good news, seemingly mono lasts forever as it’s been two months now and I still feel crappy. The better news is that the doctor told me it can last a lot longer still! Hooray! Being a useless tit forever, all of my dreams come true. The one big plus is that I don’t really have much of an appetite and I’ve lost almost 15 pounds (which needed to go).
