there are lots of things that I’ve been thinking about lately. stuff that I will write about eventually to post somewhere possibly here but more likely somewhere else. usually these kinds of topics are the basis for a longer discussion because the thought hasn’t fully formed. it remains to be seen whether any of the below is actually interesting or has merit. if I do in fact write on a subject I’ll make an actual link to the final piece.

1980×1200 is the new 640×480 (aka 720×486 if you want to get specific you geeks)
round spinning discs are about to be replaced by SD cards. why else would there be a card slot in a Mac?
if you don’t have a smart phone yet you really need to get an iPod Touch.
the OS wars are over. from here on it’s an App war.
replace that 80G hard drive in your notebook with a 500G drive.
why your logo matters most of all. and why it should be on thick printed business cards.
snubbing film means you are missing out on some fun ways to take pictures.
printing 887 miles away.
turning a Mac Plus case in to a nifty digital picture frame.
a cascade of programmable LED light projectors.
how come hardware hackers never make their hacks pretty?
how to make and use a SaveStation.
is it really worth trying to roll your own dotMac when dotMac costs just $100 (or less)
replacing your POS phone system with an IT nightmare called Asterisk. there’s a reason why the last four letters are there.
19 new jobs that your old notebook computer can do.
once in a while take everything out of a drawer then put it back.
why your should not spend more than $100 on a new camera.
want a DSLR? shoot with a film with an SLR first.
making a book. not writing one. that’s different. this is the mechanicals you must do to after you’ve done that.
shirts.
hobby project servers.
building a better “Time Capsule” for automatic backups.
love your Mac… have a crush for Apple… blinders up? don’t want to hear about anything else but? you’re missing out.
revisiting “Your computer is not a typewriter!”

you know, the partial mashup of failure, fiasco avoidance and success at underachieving once again. it cannot be a triumph in any way but in oh so many ways it is. you know? how you get your lowest score thrown out so it doesn’t affect your overall grade in any way, knowing that, then latching onto yeah, I don’t have to do that because it’s hard, phew missed that and sure I’ll take the F because the F isn’t going down on my permanent record.”

I remember that one year being “oh so close” to that big number but I was out of things for my “book” to say. it was over and out with no way to fill in anymore babble. I remember feeling really horrible for the next 30 something when the clock clicked one past the 30th day straight up midnight. oh, that hurt. and left a mark. but I took something away from that. that I really could write for writings sake without having to wave a chicken, walk around the park clockwise, make coffee waiting for it to finish only to be intimated by the one pixel wide cursor forever taunting my every word with each blink.

yeah, NaNoWriMo helped my get over the ritual, voodoo and impending rejection (aka doom) of exchanging words from my brain to silicon brain to your brain. and I’d been writing for long time before that with having to have everything just right before writing could begin.

I’ve learned from it. and here’s the obligatory list:

just write.
don’t feel bad when you can’t. you don’t have to write every day. there are days when there is nothing.
sometimes writing is not writing. that clockwise trip around the park that I mentioned before is a good way to actually write. but it could be other things: riding the bus, driving around or making eggs. All of those things engage your brain so that some other part of it can do the writing part.
some words on paper are better than no words on paper.
I used to say that in order to write you had to read. poppy cock. with reading I go through phases where I’m reading lots to where I’m not at all. writing has similar phases. there are times when I just don’t feel like doing it. other times will have me consumed for days until it’s done.
I can tell you there is no better experience than to say BUY MY BOOK! and that never gets old.
I like the excuse, “sorry I was late… I was writing!” because people who actually write know what that’s all about. people that don’t will secretly be annoyed that they will never be able to use that excuse.
if at first you don’t like what you wrote, put it away for another day. later, if it’s still crap you won’t feel so uppity about deleting it.
don’t forget to eat.
edit later.

thanks NaNoWriMo. see you next year.

I never wanted to be a writer. at least, it’s not how I started all of this. believe me if I’d known what I know now I would still be a lab geek working the over night shift programming data collectors, feeding the subjects and being bored. I would have picked something else to fix the bored part that’s for sure. but I’d already been to the edge twice with the bolts and jolts.

everyone has been to the edge with the B&Js. some people call them beej or bees. never just j. that’s something else. beej. that’s pronounce BEE-JES. JES is like JEST without the T. illegal for the most part. you can’t buy a power up at a store anymore. but just ask and a friend of a friend will hook you up. somebody is always edged and just wants out. or they’ve gone beyond the edge which means they have no need to beej anymore. we all know what that means. or we all thought we knew what that meant. so anyway, I’d edged, lived, did it again and needed a new way to not be bored.

there was a closet full of old tech at the lab. stuff that was useful for collecting data when you had to be more hands on. monitors back then had to have wires or it had a collector that needed to be downloaded every day by hooking it up to an interface. now it’s all done with dust. you know, the little particles that form neural networks passing any and all that they know without wires. they get power from light storing it for when it’s not. it’s pretty cool. anyway, I found something that I could write on. something that had a keyboard instead of brainwire. I needed to pass the time for a long time. typing is a slow laborious way to work. unlike brainwire where you just have to think. if I used that I’d be done in a day or three. but typing… ah, the joys of slow word for word.

I had the run of the place working the over night. over time I was curious about the other “closets” in the big building. because there is so much space and not many people needing to work whole floors are closed off, abandoned in place. I found one whole floor dedicated to printing. the machines were old. but old tech is pretty easy to get running again. because nobody ever came here I could start something, leave it, and come back later with nothing disturbed. I learned how to make the press work, run the binder, and found what ways worked and what didn’t. fortunately the guys that ran this place kept all the instructions on a shelf but they always looked untouched as if it was never read. I did my job and I had a hobby. somebody would check in on me once in a while. but they were always punctual meaning they never found me somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. besides everyone knows how to spoof locators.

three years later I was done. I’d pushed out what became known as “the trilogy”. printed for real. there was so many pages that it had to be three books otherwise nobody could carry them. that’s right, printed. nobody had printed a book in over a hundred and fifty years. and I was the first to have done it in that much time. it took a while to become an over night success. and then I was the talk of the talk. everyone wanted me on their vid.

this story is about that.

eventually I would find the phone which would have a new sticker from In and Out Burger affixed to the back. I love In and Out but I love it even more remembering going to enjoy the burgers, fry’s and frosty shake. shaking it off the next stop is the phone log, the camera, and the other camera….

the phone buzzes a TXT which displays… “WHERE THE F ARE YOU!” from a number don’t know. I reply “WHOIS 8675309″ and in seconds “I’M YOUR wife YOU DORK! YOU’RE LATE to MEET my PARENTS!” yes, I’m a DORK but Wife? Parents? Late of course I’m always late. it’s part of my MO of being a dorky writer with no life, no GF, nothing, not even a dog. the phone vibrates one last message “I have your dog. Can you get to Eddy’s in 30? we’re in line and it will take long for seats?”

so I have a dog too? cool…

of course that would never happen. instead I’m starring down this warm-ish coffee and four day old bagel while trying to write. the screen taunts me. the blinking cursor blinks. again. repeat…

who wouldn’t want to wake up to a Monday like that? I feel physically drained of all enthusiasm for NOT writing.

in case you were on the fence about a right you still have.

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