Archive for the 'life stories' Category



“Entrepreneurship is throwing yourself off a cliff, and building a plane on the way down.” -Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIN.

About 4.5 years ago, my oldest son Jack was born. That summer, I bought a copy of World of Warcraft, or WOW as it has come to be called. And I waited until we were in the hospital after the baby was born to open it and install it.
I had no [...]

Social Media is weird

If someone “friends” me on facebook, I usually just accept the request and move on. Sometimes people I really don’t know friend me… and I have no idea why. Take this recent facebook chat for example:
Charley: hi
John: hi there
Charley: you not talking to me for a wile
John: not for a long time
Charley: lol
John: [...]

The Crisis of Credit

Pretty good movie here that explains a lot about the credit crisis we’re in now:

Getting laid or getting paid

“I don’t know what’s better getting laid or getting paid … I just know when I’m getting one the other’s getting away” - Kanye West (in “This Way” by Dilated Peoples)

Quote: Today

“Today is the best day to do something, if you want something done.” - John Engler, 1/5/2009 in a IM conversation with a friend.

I got this from a friend on Thanksgiving this year. It’s no secret I went to Texas A&M, which has been doing pitifully in College Football lately. I got a good chuckle out of this:
From: Roy Hayhurst
To: John Engler
Subject: Fwd: From a Baylor Fan on How To Cope with being in Last Place….
Date: [...]

Charlie Brown Ad Agency

Merry Christmas Everybody:

This is priceless:

Did you vote yet? I did.
Go vote.

Ronald Reagan endorses Obama

You’ve gotta see this to believe it:

Shel Silverstein

I miss reading Shel Silverstein. I’m going to have to buy some books of his, to read to the boys. His books encourage the kind of limitless wonder all kids (and adults) should have:
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the [...]

Classic Developer Humor

This came up on a phone call with a client today:

PR Spammers

I don’t know about the rest of you, but if you’re a blogger, you’re likely getting spammed by PR agencies. I know I am…
And so, in celebration of that fact, and hopefully, so I can make some money off the spam I receive, while also letting everyone know what the latest stupid Press Release [...]

My wife was trying to print something the other night, and she was complaining that the printer was broken. I figured out what the problem was for me, so I’m posting this in case others have the same sort of problem (the answers I found on the web weren’t all that readable, and I spent [...]

This is a powerful video:

HDTV rocks

If I haven’t said it before:
“HDTV rocks”
totally. Izzy Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy is so hot in HDTV. Heck, Callie Torres is hot in HD too.
If you don’t have an HDTV yet, get one. Seriously.

100 Ways to Have Fun with Your Kids for Free or Cheap   #  0 comments  

How to be a Great Dad - 12 Awesome Tips   #  0 comments  

Apple’s Weather Widget Graphics

Only Apple can make sleet look fun:

It’s cold outside, rain/ice and sleet is coming down, and it’s been coming down for a good 36 hours now, and is forecast to keep coming down for another 36 hours.
I realize that for those of you that live north of Texas this isn’t a big deal, [...]

I gotta figure out how to use this word spotted in a recent Daring Fireball ‘Jackass of the Week’ article:
frigtard - as in “socially maladjusted frigtards”.
Love it.

Over Labr Day weekend, I went to Tahoe with a buddy to shoot a wedding. It was my first real paid photography gig. Mind you we weren’t getting paid in cash, but we were getting a free 4 day trip to Lake Tahoe over a long weekend. Regardless, the experience was awesome, [...]

Cellphones and wealth

It’s funny how many people I know in this situation today:

Courtesy of Hugh McLeod.

good morning

Ugh. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of sitting in an airport at 6:05 am, after getting up at 5, so you can get on a plane at 7. I didn’t have any problems going through security this morning with my laptop, digital SLR or iPod, but I don’t have any deodorant or hair gel [...]

Talk about a way to start a morning. I just read “I can only imagine…”. It’s a moving story about love that every father should read.   #  0 comments  

I read Michael Bartosh Passes by TUAW today, and I though “man, that sucks.” Back when I helped run MacNN I used to call Michael every month or so, to learn what was new with Apple. At least that’s what I was trying to learn… typically, Michael would tell me he didn’t know, [...]

Busier than shit

So life has been keeping me busier than shit lately. Sorry folks, that’s just the truth of it.
I’ve actually got about 4 or 5 good posts about half written, but none ready to post.
Long story short, I’m running a company now, and it’s in an industry that’s new to me, even though I’ve been [...]

Just a note to say I quit my job on Monday. Or at least I gave them two weeks notice.
I start my new job on May 22nd, and will post more then.
I’ll also say that my former company is enforcing my non-compete, which limited the offers I could accept (I had three on the [...]

How to get up right away when your alarm goes off   #  1 comment  

After spending greater than 5 hours on a plane today, I gotta say this:
I LOVE ROCKETBOOM!
Yes. I do.
I started watching Rocketboom very infrequently about a year ago, then I bought an iPod Video (after losing my iPod nano) and that made it easy to watch videos when I was on the road traveling.
Right now, [...]

Jarhead

I haven’t written a movie review in ages, but since I’m on a plane heading home from Columbus, Ohio (where it was frickin’ cold today, btw) and I just finished watching it… I feel I have to.
This movie kicks ass! Seriously.
I was in the Corps at A&M in college, then spent a few years [...]

This is too cool: Apple has posted a case study about EchoStorm which just happens to be run my David Barton and Jason Barton… old friends from my Mac Web days. Congrats Jason and David. Nice feature… and nice little business you guys are building there!   #  0 comments  

On Vacation

Just a note to say that the wife and I are taking a much needed vacation this week. We’ll think of all of you freezing your asses off here in the States, while we’re enjoying ourselves somewhere in the Caribbean (we’ll be on a cruise). If you email me, I won’t reply for [...]

The Rocking Duck

A few weeks ago, I spotted a Rocking Duck from Playsam in Skandinavia (oh the wonders of the internet) and it was on sale (never mind that the shipping cost as much as the duck).
I ordered one on impulse, because it was so damned cute. It arrived today, so I put it [...]

Tank Battles - this gets an old tanker totally psyched… man this would be a time consuming but totally cool hobby!   #  0 comments  

How to do what you love - one of the best essayists around, Paul Graham, teaches us how to do what we love to do. Love it Paul!   #  0 comments  

1500

1500 is a great number.
1500 is a number that means a lot to lots of people.
1500 is the designation of Chevy’s standard 1/2 ton pickup truck. A Chevy 1500 is a good truck.
1500 is 3:00 p.m. in the Army. 1500 is a good time to have a meeting in the summer time (it [...]

Purchasing Car Parts

This story comes from my Father-in-law, and since I’m really short on time to write up content, I’m posting this here. Hope you enjoy, and that you learn something:
The best advice I can give is shop around. Not just for lowest price but also for highest quality. Normally you wont find both [...]

Pinewood Freak - a blog for pine wood derby racers. Man times have changed since I was a cub scout! Good job Adam. Keep posting the tips. I’ll need them in about 10 years when my Jack is in cub scouts.   #  0 comments  

If there is only one article you read this year on investments, read this one from Mark Cuban. It’s the one article I took time to read today…

This is hilarious: Listen to this guy’s Mp3 of call with MBNA trying to sell him a Visa card. So funny… lol… wait until then end of the call when he get’s mad … “wait a minute lady” … “you ought to quit your job”.   #  0 comments  

If you’ve read the book, you really need to go watch the new DaVinci Code Trailer. Looks fantastic, though I don’t know that I’ve have pictured Tom Hanks as the main character when I read the book. If you’re planning on seeing the movie, I’d highly recommend reading the book first, if you haven’t yet. Great story.   #  0 comments  

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

I’m reminded of the old Dinah Shore and Johnny Mercer tune tonight:

Yes, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside“.
And the funny thing is it’s a lot colder in other parts of the country… like in the single digits in Denver and Chicago… brrrrrr.

On the difference between the Mexican Martini and the Margarita - I love me a Mexican Martini.   #  0 comments  

The Darkness

If you’re a Queen fan, you should probably check out The Darkness, a Rock and Roll band from Britain that definitely sounds like modern day Queen.
Click for larger image
The iTMS has an exclusive EP for sale, but it’s not available for US iTMS shoppers… the other albums and singles are though.
Totally cool, and a great [...]

For those of you that aren’t in the know about Austin, read this: To Do List: 1. Move to Austin. Great little write up about why Austin is soooo cool to live in.   #  1 comment  

I bought a new Rainbird sprinkler system controller a few weeks ago, and I blew the fuse that came with it during installation… but luckily, it came with a spare. So, I used the spare after I got it installed.
Now, two-three weeks later, I came home after a weekend trip out of town, and [...]

“Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—this is not easy.” - Aristotle   #  0 comments  

DaddyTypes - the weblog for new dads.   #  0 comments  

Being Poor - wow.   #  0 comments  

My friend, Drew Moynihan launched a new website this week: Loftywords.com. Loftywords.com is a website that’ll follow the loft industry and the loft lifestyle as it progresses across the country…
Congrts to Drew in his new endeavor… pretty cool that he’s hanging his own shingle out there again, and I wish him the best [...]




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