Quotidian Quest

Creating new website

2010-06-03T06:05:00.001-07:00

Despite all of my hard work on facebook, it's time that I also have some kind of static site as well.

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Email To Andy Ihnatko

2010-05-27T11:44:00.001-07:00

I recently sent and email to Andy Ihnatko, a really cool journalist
from the Chicago Sun Times and Macbreak Weekly. I thought it was
pretty good and I'd like to post it to you the internet!

(Note: I didn't take the time to do a second draft this is all from
the top of my head).

Hello Andy,
I'm a fan and a happy mac user. I've heard a lot of arguments that
I've paid too much for my mac, but I can't think of a time when I had
to worry about this or that not working. Anyway, you've probably heard
and experienced this story yourself.

The point of me emailing is that I'm having a hard time arguing with
my co-workers in regards to the iPhone. I got one and I love it, the
thing is testimate to modern computing and we wouldn't even be having
a discussion about "smart" or "feature" phones if it hadn't come to
pass.

It seems to me, that a lot of the talk after google IO were complaints
against Apple not being open and that the web wanted to be free, but
it seems that no one brings up the fact that the very first
applications that third party developers could put on the iPhone were
*gasp* web apps that:
1) Free to develop
2) Free of censorship from apple
3) Freely available to everyone and can run on (basically) any webkit
based browser

I can understand some of the frustration that some of the developers
are experiencing when it comes for submitting there application, but
it seems kind of silly when somebody complains that she or he can't
use tool Z on product i so they want to have nothing to do with it (or
cancel a national conference).

To me, I'm reminded of someone saying they want to run their
playstation games on a nintendo, but then I look at the people who are
actively complaining and I wonder how many of them are console gamers.

One other thing, I'm tempted to buy the playboy application and do a
little blog post about it, because I keep Leo talking about how apple
is being hypocritical on their porn policy. I don't think this is
true, because the applications that were taken off the store all
contain nudity. The description on the playboy application says that
it doesn't explicitly. The only thing is that I'm afraid my wife might
beat me if she sees it when she syncs here ipod touch, but I think I
could get away with it if a respected journalist said I should in
order to get the inside scoop.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you for doing what you do. You explain your
arguments a lot better than I do and it comes across and solid
reasoning. I hope that you've read this and smiled!

Salutations!

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking | 43 Folders

2010-05-25T20:30:00.001-07:00

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking | 43 Folders

The hardest part of starting over is swallowing my pride, saying that I need help and then starting up again.

(Via 43 Folders.)

Getting back to work

2010-05-24T23:57:00.001-07:00

Well, things have been hectic and I'm thinking about a lot of things in my personal life. The key is that those near me are happy and doing well. Living, learning and enjoying life.

I wish I could say that about people outside of my house, but I can only do so much.

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Good for him

2010-05-01T07:58:00.001-07:00

My brother is engaged to get married. I'm happy that he's found someone.

Late night oil

2010-04-16T00:18:00.001-07:00

So I'm up late again.

It's weird being up this late. Just sitting here thinking about what I could be doing instead of doing it. It's a quite moment where I can tune out for a couple minutes and just here the humming of the lightbulbs and tell myself, "It's ok to slow down and take this minute for me"

Blogging, bloggin, bloggin...

2010-04-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

I really do love blogging, even if most of it is junk!

Adults

2010-04-02T00:27:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be an adult. To me, being an adult means owning up to your responsibilities and making reasonably rational decisions. I say reasonably because there are things that can't/shouldn't be rationalized. For example, love between exact opposites or why they stopped showing Captain Eo at DisneyLand (completely irrational).

On the opposite side of the equation, we have emotion. The western world has a love/hate relationship with emotions. In America, it is written that we should all be working on that constant pursuit for happiness. Some of the best movies are about people who do this.

As an adult, we all have to balance this.

I couldn't sleep

2010-03-19T01:46:00.001-07:00

After watching the movie ‘Everybody’s fine’, a nice movie about a newly widowed father who travels across the country to meet up with his children who he has a strained relationship with. It got me thinking about my own relationships. Have I done everything I could do? If I were to die would the people who matter to me go forward with their lives knowing that I wished them well? Would my children know that all I truly want for them is to live a full and happy life? Did I really live life to the fullest and lead by example?

That last one, I’m going to say ‘no and yes’.

I don’t live every moment to the fullest, in fact, I have caught myself drifting in and out a couple times. Like the song from Linkin Park, ‘It’s easier to run’, I find that I’ve got a certain part of myself that just zones out sometimes. That says ‘Hey, I don’t think I can change this situation so why fight it?’

I know, it’s horrible, but I think it’s how most people are ‘living’ there life.

I also think that’s why people cheat on their spouses and just treat people like shit.

And I’m tired of it. Really.

I’m tired of being told to live in a little box, and I’m tired of being told to shhhh and keep quiet about things for the stupidest of reasons. That, in the end, come back to ultimately bite me.

To be honest, I feel that a lot of people are just set in their ways. I could tell a certain someone that I love them a hundred times and they would only look back to a time I didn’t return their phone call because I was changing a diaper and say that I’m a liar. I could tell someone that they should stand up make a change to some kind of product and that person could say ‘Hey, my hands are tied because the boss gave me these things to do.’ I could hug someone and they would only say that I’m only doing it because it’s expected and not because I want to become closer to them and I may never be able to do it again. I could take someone’s keys to make sure they don’t drink and drive, but that person would only see me as attempting to belittle them.

After a certain point, I’ve got to say ‘Listen, I’m an adult and you’re an adult. I’m going to go this way. You can do whatever you want.’

I’m going to stop there because I have to be at work in 5 hours.

Getting back into it

2010-03-19T01:23:00.001-07:00

Well, the last couple of weeks have been really busy in between moving to a new location, new routines, new expenses and just a lot of new things. Unfortunately, I've allowed myself to get off the routines that I've been putting together and the biggest reason is my own procrastination.

Part of me wants to make this blog "Perfect", so I spend too much time thinking about all the little tools I should use to make it. I wonder "How am I going to host images?", "Am I going to continue hosting it on google?", "How do I keep track of old post: Should I leave them on the server or on my local machine?", "What if my laptop gets stolen?", "Should I only write on my laptop or anything I get my hands on?"

It goes on and on, and I forget the important thing. This blog is for me. I do it to put my thoughts into words and from there I post it for the whole world to see. I make it, not the other way around.

If you don't like it, you don't have to read it.

We are outta here!

2010-02-28T08:30:00.001-08:00

We've moved!

My father is coming home!

2010-02-23T07:28:00.001-08:00

My father recently had a stroke and was doing some intense physical therapy down in Vallejo.

But he's coming home today! This month is really coming around!

Review (February 18th, 2010)

2010-02-18T09:44:00.001-08:00

I’ve been pushed off of my review wagon (again). One thing you have to keep in mind when starting a new habit is that you should forgive yourself if you miss a day and get back to it as soon as you can. Well, things have been busy in my life: My dad had a stroke, I’m going to be moving to a new place at the end of the month, I’ve had the privilege of raising someone else’s kid for a while and I’ve also been re-evaluating my life.

Sometimes, I don’t know what to do or feel...

Like a leaf in the wind...

Personal Accomplishments:

* Met Andy Ihnatko

* Getting better and better about tracking my list of things to do

* Doing my review again

I met Andy Ihnatko!

2010-02-16T23:15:00.001-08:00

I saw him speak at a macnexus meeting!

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Review (February 5th 2010)

2010-02-05T23:34:00.001-08:00

Well, it seems that I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in the drama again, but I feel like a much better person. I vaguely remember someone once saying that its how we deal with events that define us. I had some very interesting things happen to me since the last time I did a review.

First and foremost, I got sick again. This time it was really bad and I couldn’t leave the bathroom for more than an hour or two before my stomach emptied itself. I don’t think I’ve been sick like that in years and I’m seriously considering talking to my doctor about why I’ve been getting sick so often. My wife says that it might be all the stress of working, a general level of dissatisfaction with where I am in my life, the relationship between me and my family, the list is long. But I definitely could be worse.

Secondly, pack up the kids, we are moving! We are moving to a two story townhouse that has almost twice the amount of space of our current place. We’re put the deposit down and we’re just waiting for the credit checks and then we’ll be set for the end of the month to move in.

Third, I looked at the number of posts that I did in January(12) and compared it with the number of posts that I did back in 2009 (36) and 2008 (24). Wow, that’s a lot of information to put on “Da Google.”

Forth, I came across a journal that I used to keep up a couple years ago and -honestly- I could write a post about it alone. It was sad that I looked at it and saw that I am still dealing with issues from back then. To sum it up, it’s been more reason to do more in order to move my life forward.

Personal Accomplishments:
* Wake up
* Set up a work journal

Things on my mind:
* How to make it all better...

43 Folders | Time, Attention, and Creative Work

2010-02-04T15:11:00.001-08:00

via 43folders.com

Wow, I can't believe I spent so much time looking into productivity p0rn! I used to look at 43folders.com almost every other hour looking for that "One secret that would make me productive".

The secret, just do it.

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Surviving with More Kids (part. 2)

2010-01-29T11:31:00.001-08:00

Well, I don't want to say that the honeymoon phase is over, but I will say that things have become a lot more... hectic.

I guess the first day had a lot going for it since I only saw them for 4 hours before it was time for them to go to bed and we were lucky to be able to take them all to the park followed by the library where they can run off a lot of energy.

Yesterday, was different. Thankfully, my mom took the older girls out to the museum and to go eat and when they got back they had cookies and cake. I -in my infinite wisdom- then told my wife that she should go out and take a break from all the kids and although it took a lot of convincing she (although she did take our youngest which I was grateful for later).

After that, things weren't as bad as you would think, but it wasn't perfect either. I was running around breaking up little fights over toys and turns. The kids screaming "NO! It's my turn" and running to the other side of the room because someone is doing something they shouldn't: Spilling things, taking things, eating things, thankfully not breaking things, but I'm sure something has disappeared into that magical land that missing socks go. I even attempted to go over letters with very poor results. I could tell that the oldest one was frustrated, but I hope that I'll be able to get her to recognize most of the alphabet before she leaves.

Eventually, the girls settled and I managed to get them all into bed without the same hassle as the night before. Although, I did have one call me a dozen times for various things until I put my foot down.

One thing of note was although our guest don't seem to get along during the day, the oldest one does show some concern for her sister. I feel sad for them because with all the drama that they've gone through the only one's they truly have is each other.
To wrap it up, this time I got to sleep in the bed and had to share it with my oldest.

She threw up on me twice.

My new addition

2010-01-28T21:38:00.001-08:00

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Surviving with More Kids (part. 1)

2010-01-28T08:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, after a particularly long series of events. My wife and I have had the opportunity to care for two (2) more girls; one aged 3 and the other aged 1. I won’t go into the details of where we got them or how we got them, but they are here and it’s nice to see how they interact with our girls.

Even so, my mind is racing with questions of what would happen if the girls stayed with us. How are we going to do lessons? How are we going to transport them? How are we going to do bed time and showers?
Easy, you just take it one day at a time.

Things that I noticed so far:

When little girls get together it seems to always be play time
My wife and I did our best to accommodate. We had to take both cars in order to get them to the park yesterday and it then use the baby bjorns to hold the little ones as we ran around chasing the more mobile of the two. It would have been more fun if we could have done it earlier in the day.
Baths aren’t that hard
Bath time was done doing two by two and it wasn’t that difficult, because I’ve found that kids (or at least the ones I’ve seen) like water. If anything it was difficult making them wait their turns and making sure they don’t drown each other.
Dinner
Well, it’s a good thing my wife and I have moved away from eating fast food and the like and actively plan and prepare meals in advance. It saves money (2 adults and 4 kids… yikes!) and time (just heat and eat).
Discipline
This was an awkward subject for me to handle. On one hand, I’m a parent who is raising his daughters in a way I feel is right. On the other, these aren’t my children and I don’t know what they are expecting. I don’t spank, but I expect that what I say should be followed.
So far, we haven’t had any big issues other than the older one pushing her sister down and a misunderstanding on what it means to share. Strangely enough, it’s my own daughter who's been giving us the most trouble. It could be because she’s two now and wants to express herself with the word “No” or she’s embolden now that we have company.

Either way, I got my eye on her….
Bed Time
This is actually, where things get a little more tricky. Thankfully, these girls sleep through the night, but it just begs the question of where do they sleep. We pretty much put the oldest one in my daughter’s crib, her sister has her own portable crib and our girls slept with mommy in the bed.
Leaving me on the couch and I have to say it’s probably the best night of sleep that I’ve had in days.

Well, that sums up the first day. The second one is today, and thankfully I’m at work for most of it!

My favorite new feature of facebook

2010-01-23T17:22:00.001-08:00

Recently, I noticed something new in the email notifications that I get from facebook. They have allowed you to reply to a conversation without having to log into the website! This is awesome because you can follow along with a conversation without leaving your "productive" environment.

Here's another screenshot using LittleSnapper and the post is from MarsEdit.

Review (January 22nd, 2010)

2010-01-23T12:08:00.001-08:00

This week, I’ve been really ill. Maybe it’s all the stress that I’ve been under: Looking for a new place to live, Asking for a raise, unresolved issues with my family, weird sleeping schedule (the kids), pressure to produce _something_!

Anyway, here’s a quick review:

Accomplishments:
* Asked for a raise (Which was quickly followed by questions of “How do you do that special XYZ thing you do?)
* Keep my head when I found out my account information was used to make some weird purchases
* Make a post to email-init to further information about email clients

Things on my mind:
* Find a place to live
* Work on my personal relationships
* Do a deeper review than this

Basically the same thing as last week

Hacked!

2010-01-23T11:39:00.001-08:00

Today, I got a notification that someone had stolen my account information to buy things online and that my account is going to be closed for the time being. It just goes to show that you have to be on top of this kind of stuff and people will take your money even if you don’t have a lot in the first place.

On top of that, I just got the bill for the fixes to my doorway that was kicked in last year.

$326!

You must be out of your mind!

Talk about bad timing!

How I use email

2010-01-19T12:47:00.001-08:00

Recently, Mac Developer Brent Simmons discussed on his blog about the importance of a good email client. Although, he said he wouldn't spearhead the project, he did start up a mailing list (ironic) for it. The list has been going crazy with people going back and forth over what the ideal mail client was and what should be in the 1.0 release.

One of the posters, Matthieu Cormier, has posted on his blog how he uses Mail.app and I thought it would be a good exercise to re-evaulate how I use mail and maybe that would help move the discussion along.

Last year, I made the switch from .mac to gmail and it's been kind of interesting to see how Mail.app handles mail. Before this point I was having gmail send all my email to my mac address and then using Act-on to sort it into different folders. This worked alright when I was at home and had time to sort my email, unfortunately, I'm not always on my mac... and _sometimes_ .mac was down.

Currently, I only use gmail and I've set up some labels and filters to manage it all. I have emails sent individually so that I can follow different threads quickly.

But I still enjoy working with a desktop client, if only for the sake of it flowing well with the rest of my "workflow" that includes working with omnifocus and a couple other tools that I like to use. If I can add one more issue against Mail.app that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that it doesn't allow you to color the heading on different threads.

Well, thank you for your time!

Review (January 15, 2010)

2010-01-15T20:46:00.001-08:00

I'd like to take this time to thank myself for not going completely crazy this last week. Crying babies, very little sleep and just the aftermath of all the drama from last month and I'm still standing...

...although a little wobbly!

But, I'd like to take some time and do a little weekly review.

Personal accomplishments this week:
1) Finish two projects for work that will reward the company for a while
2) Keep my cool despite the constant pressure to find a new place and money to pay for it.
3) Cut back on my liquid sugar intake. No soda!
4) Did a weekly review

Things Still on my Mind:
*) How to make more income
*) How to improve the relationship I have with my family
*) What are some more activities that I can do with my children in the winter time

The day after being sick

2010-01-12T17:02:00.001-08:00

It just feels weird for a variety of reasons. There is the traditional protestant guilt that one is supposed to be working everyday combined with questioning wether or not you are contagious topped with the delicious pressure of all the things that need to be done.
Yay!