"Murphy was an optimist!"
The Power of Computing May 11, 2010 9:55 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Communications, Gadgets, TechnologyComputing tied to a single computer or location is undeniably an artifact of the past. The Cloud with its risks and uncertainty is where data should live as the risks far outweight the risk of maintaining that data on a single, fixed location piece of hardware. For a family that keeps all its digital records (photos, documents, etc) only on the home computer, a housefire or even something as mundane as a failed harddrive can wipeout a lifetime of family history.
The Cloud gives us data accessibilty and security with machine independence but from time to time we do require a specific machine which may not be at our current location. The ever presence of connectivity through devices such as the iPhone, Droid, and iPad eliminates the distance between where we stand and the physical computer. For example, I just used Team Viewer from my iPhone to log into and control my home workstation for downloading "Native Flutes for Relaxation" from Amazon while they were offering it for free. That’s coo! Oh, then I made this post from my iPhone. Mobile computing is now! Tomorrow computing and access will be so ubiquitous and transparent that most people won’t even recognize their activities as "computing" or "Internet" as we do today, similarly to how people breathe without thinking about oxygen.
1 comment so farFrom the mouths of babes May 6, 2010 7:47 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babesMom: "What are those bumps on your face?"
Evan, almost 5: "Chicken pox."
Me: "What are chicken pox?"
Evan: "That’s when you bump into something and get bumps all over you."
Me: "How did you learn about chicken pox?"
Evan: "I went to another world."
Exhausted May 6, 2010 6:51 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Health, Mental, SleepThe level of exhaustion I’m experiencing right now is bizarre, inexplicable and almost beyond description. I don’t believe I’ve done anything to deserve to feel this tired. I’d like to rent a secluded cabin and just sleep for two days.
add a commentI cut down a tree May 2, 2010 5:01 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, HouseSwitching Spam Filters May 2, 2010 9:40 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Announcements, Of InterestI have been a huge Spam Karma fan for years but the open source community does not seem to be taking the ball and running with it.
As of January 1st, 2009, I am no longer developing, maintaining or supporting Spam Karma. If you want to contribute to its code or download the latest GPL release, you can check out the code repository, over at Google Code. [Source, unknowngenius.com]
So I’m switching to Akismet. The last time I tried Akismet, I had many false positives. That is, it reported real comments as spam. With Spam Karma, I had almost zero false positives for all the years I used it. If you try to leave a comment and it fails or doesn’t show up, just contact me.
3commentsThe tree has fallen, the tree has fallen! May 1, 2010 2:17 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, House, Of Being DadFrom the mouths of babes May 1, 2010 8:32 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babesEvan, almost 5: "MMMmmm. Dad what’s this?"
Dad: "Old coffee grounds for the compost pile."
Evan: "I like old. Wait. No, I don’t like old because old people don’t let me do whatever I want."
Quote of the Day April 30, 2010 8:07 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, QuoteBehind every successful man is a surprised woman.
add a commentOn Time Management/Organizational Tools April 30, 2010 11:27 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Doug's Mantras, Philosophy, Software, TechnologyI’m a huge fan of Jott. I don’t know how Siri (recently acquired by Apple) slipped through my radar. I now have Siri and am very excited. SpringPad and I have this oddly tenuous relationship which I’ll explain in another post. I think SpringPad has incredible potential and should be appreciated by fans of Evernote.
Like Stephen R Covey’s First Things First and David Allen’s Getting Things Done, none of these tools do any good if you don’t use them. And by use them, I mean fully. For instance, in Gmail I frequently flag emails to review later but then I may not review them. The same thing can happen with any of the tools above. I fill Jott with voice notes and text memos daily. Like sharpening the saw, a review is critical. One of my mantras is "15 minutes a day for proficiency." It comes from preparing for juggling shows. If I wait until the day before a performance and try to cram several hours of practice in, I don’t perform well. If I spent 15 minutes a day for those same number of hours, I perform very well! That 15 minute mantra applies to all things in life be it learning a skill like guitar, a language like Spanish, losing that extra weight, reading a book, writing a business plan, or just keeping your life in check.
Trying to get organized while living our crazy lives often feels a bit like trying to balance your checkbook while going down a water slide. You can’t do it and your checkbook gets really soggy. Feels like a catch-22; too busy to organize, must organize to not be so busy. That’s were 15 minutes a day comes in. We can spend 15 minutes just staring into space. Even exhausted, we can muster 15 minutes. And now, I will spend 15 minutes reviewing my notes in Jott.
1 comment so farFrom the mouths of babes April 30, 2010 8:59 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babesMe: "This machine measures my blood pressure. See that blue line in my arm. That’s the blood in my arm."
Evan, nearly 5 years old: "Blood? Blood is bad for you! Blood will make you die. I’ve seen it on Noah’s game."
Of Grasshoppers April 29, 2010 4:36 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: I never wanted to be the enemy.
Master: You can still be friendly.
Tomorrow’s Future April 29, 2010 3:21 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philosophy, PoetryIf there was a future in my past
At present I can see
There was no future in it for me.
I awoke living each day for tomorrow
And slept lamenting yesterday.
Today I can only think
Of going back and doing it differently.
Tomorrow will be a new day
Then I can begin to live my future
Much more happily.
Everybody stop! Hey, what’s that sound? April 29, 2010 12:02 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, Music, Of Interest, TechnologyI’ve spent 40 years thinking I was hard of hearing or just dim witted because I could never fully make out the lyrics in many songs particularly of the rock, punk, or heavy metal genres. No one told me my headphones just sucked. I finally splurged and bought myself some Skullcandy Full Metal Jacket (FMJs) earbuds for the iPhone and am hearing sounds in my music I never knew were there before! (I’m also going to quit complaining to my children that they listen to their music too loudly…even if they do.)
1 comment so farFile under: awkward gifts April 29, 2010 9:49 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Holiday, Mother's DayI like that Newegg’s Mother’s Day sale includes the Hitachi Magic Wand (great price btw). Now that says “thanks Mom!”
ps. If you’re a woman and don’t know what a Hitachi Magic Wand is…um…you should do some research. It’s a wonderfully strong massager that really works…the tension out.
add a commentOf Grasshoppers April 28, 2010 8:11 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: I don’t care anymore.
Master: No one else will either.
