I need my phone to do about 2 things: Call Katie and Google Maps. I have a terrible sense of direction. When I was younger I would drive with paper maps. I would need to pull over every mile or so to make sure I was where I was supposed to be. The navigation feature…
I’ve been working on a new system for help articles at work. We decided to try a Confluence Wiki from Atlassian. I have to say, I have been pleasantly surprised by the excellent UX. They clearly have poured a decent amount of love into this thing. Here are some thoughts that come to mind: Mobile…
Yesterday, I showed my kids the meme of “planking”. Admittedly, this is a fairly dated meme, but they are young, so it’s new to them. Planking is a photo fad which involves lying face down with arms to the sides in unusual public spaces, photographing the scene and sharing the image online. In form, it bears striking resemblance…
My kid just broke his arm. He was on a skateboard for the first time. What could possibly go wrong? Well, he smacked onto the pavement and broke both big bones in his forearm. Luckily, he was only a block away and his brothers came and got me. I could see from 40 feet away.…
I’ve got alot of different kinds of computers in my house. A desktop from dell, a little Intel NUC, a Mac Mini, iPads, xBoxes, etc etc. I am not generally a Mac user, but I help my kid with his Mac Mini. He (11 yrs old) is a musician and plays drums and base guitar.…
I have been blogging for a long time. 17 Years, to be exact. In my blog posts, I will often link to an image or somewhere on the web. This is a terrible practice. Here is why: I just downloaded a wordpress plugin to find broken links in my posts. I have almost 600 broken…
I heard a phrase: People don’t buy shovels, they buy holes. It’s taken me a very long while to respond to this because it sounds so good. It rolls off the tongue and has an unexpected, logical quality. It seems right, doesn’t it. The only problem is that it is completely, utterly, 100% wrong. People…
An interesting thought experiment came up today. A company I know acquired another company for 8 figures. The purpose was Acqui-Hire. This is the practice of acquiring a company for the talent, not for the product. There were not alot of people in the company and the acquiring company immediately shut down the product. The…
I don’t need skype at work. So when my computer boots up, I right click on Skype and click “Quit” I was pretty clear of what I wanted, right? So why the heck does skype give me this window? Honestly, screw you skype! Stop bothering me. No other program does this. It’s annoying! As…
For the old folks…remember Windows 95. It used a FAT file system, not the more modern NTFS (for Windows). It needed to be defragged to run at optimal speeds. I loved the entire idea of a defrag. It was like cleaning up a room, putting each thing in it’s place. I would watch it work…
When I’m down or frustrated… When things aren’t going my way… When I just want to give up… A good joke makes it all better. Here are a quick set of 10 good ones: (My Favorite of the day) What did Jay-Z call his girlfriend before they got married? Feyoncé. (2nd favorite) Two fish are in…
I was walking in the parking lot at work and a car alarm went off. The car was about 50 feet away. I could see someone with the door open, leaning into the driver’s side. I looked around me and saw about 6 other people. Each one walking nonchalantly towards the building. Not one of…
I broke the Tortoise table this morning because I was impatient. I tried to move it without someone helping me. I leaned a little hard on the plexiglass and it cracked. I should have waited until tonight and had help carrying it. I hope it’s not totally ruined. One part of my personality is that…
Recently, we bought a red foot tortoise. We bought it without realizing how much space the thing really needs. Subsequently, we bought a habitat that is too small for him. I was determined to figure out a solution to the problem. There was a spot in our house that would make a good home for the…