Tony gives his personal observations on tech news, gadgets, music, or whatever is bothering him at the moment.
I’ll be at Macworld Expo again this year.
I’m most looking forward to meeting up with friends from around the world that we see just once a year when we get together for a common purpose.
My goal for this trip is to interview enough vendors and attendees to put together a few podcast episodes. I’ll also be taking pictures and maybe some short videos to post here as well.
Wish me luck!
Personal note: Don’t try to write a blog post before 7am unless you’ve had your coffee.
Here is the pilot episode for the TWRR podcast. I needed to put something together quick in order to get a validated iTunes podcast. Looking forward to serving up some content from Macworld Expo in February in the short term, and we’ll see where this takes us in the long run.
Dave Caolo at TUAW posted a story about the long-rumored Apple Tablet device and textbook publishers. The following line caught my eye.
“As for the publishers, this type of distribution would eliminate the school’s resale of used books, which was a benefit for the students but did nothing for them.”
As a student, I tried to purchase used books whenever possible to save money for my growing collection of Yes, Genesis, and Neil Young import CDs (please don’t remind me.) I also tried to sell my used books back to the store or another student at the end of the semester.
I’m curious to see if Dave’s prediction comes true. If Apple does succeed in securing deals with the textbook publishers, I’m almost certain other device manufacturers/companies (Amazon anyone?) would soon follow. Publishers would love to reduce the used book market on campuses. I’m worried that we wouldn’t see discounted textbooks in electronic format, just like we haven’t seen discounts in other forms of electronic media*.
How many users would prefer to get their textbooks in electronic form? At first, the cost of the e-textbooks won’t be the deciding factor, due to the initial cost of the tablet and the high cost of the textbooks themselves. I think it will be convenience that drives adoption of e-textbooks. There’s also no denying that the cool factor will play into this for those that have the means.
* My claim on the lack of discounts for electronic media is not based on any real data. I only comment based on personal experience. Physical CDs and DVDs are not necessarily more expensive because you’re losing the CD booklet and the extra features found on most DVDs with their electronic counterparts.
In the interest of putting things on “paper,” here’s a list of things I would like to accomplish in 2010.
- Write on this blog more. To help with that, I joined Project 52 which is the subject of a recent post of mine.
- Learn some new skills to help pay the bills. I want to learn some programming and scripting languages. I am looking into classes at UW-Madison, MATC, Herzing College, and a few online options. There are a few people at the office that can manipulate the hell out of data with a few scripts. Jealousy? I haz it.
- Improve this house. There are plenty of projects to do around here. The ceilings need repair in the master bedroom and dining room after ice dam damage a few years ago. I want to remodel the bathroom and kitchen, but I think we’ll only have the budget to tackle one of those this year. I may let Geri paint a room or two as well as she has been bugging me about that for the last two years.
- Organize this house. As Geri and I have been putting the Christmas decorations away, it is clear to us that we lack organization. We’re trying to stuff 1500 sq ft of $hit in this 1000 sq ft house. I think it is time to utilize the attic space and come up with other storage miracles.
- GTD. I started down the GTD path, but I’ve strayed often. I use Things on the Mac and iPhone on a daily basis, but it is currently a glorified to-do list. I have David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” but I haven’t made the time to read it.
- Paint the garage. I think that is self-explanatory.
- Start saving aggressively. Whether the money will be used for a new house or for fertility treatments (more details in a future post,) we currently lack an emergency fund.
- Race! I ran in a 250 lap endurance kart race at Sugar River Raceway in 2009 and had a blast. It filled the void left by the lack of running the track at Gingerman Raceway in the Corvette. This may conflict with aggressive saving, but there’s also the component of my sanity to consider.
- Spend more time with friends. Geri and I have started this, but we could use more face time with our friends. It is a great distraction to the day to day grind.
- Start my damn podcast already. I’ve probably spent about $500 on software and hardware, and I’ll I’ve done is the interview with the filmmakers of “Welcome to Macintosh” which is posted here at the Typical Mac User site. I’ll use the podcast for items that can’t be covered by a blog post. It will be random release and random topics.
- Read more. I think the only books I read in 2009 were written by Wil Wheaton. I’m setting a goal of completing a book a month. I’ll need to get the GTD thing in place so I have more time to read. Should be a challenge.
- Most people will put something about losing weight or getting healthy on their resolutions list, but I started that in December. Ha!
I decided to participate in Project 52. I discovered this project reading a post by Christina Warren.
What I hope to accomplish through this:
- Start writing. I hate writing. This hatred goes back to grade school. The only way to change this is to practice.
- In the beginning, I’ll just write to get some posts on this site. Over time, I will start analyzing for proper grammar and general flow.
- I want this to build my confidence in my writing. I need to carry this over to my job so I can write manuals and procedures for our team.
- I want to develop this into a regular habit. Recently, I’ve discovered that I’m more a creature of habit than I’d like to admit. Why fight it?
Ideally, I would like this to develop into writing for a professional blog site, Macworld app reviews, racing blogs, music sites, whatever.
Posts associated with this project will have the Project 52 category and tag.
Doesn’t this sound like they lifted some of the original tracks from Queen? Some of those guitars sound exactly like Brian May’s original tracks.
Open the original YouTube link to view in 720p and 1080p.
The title sums up how I feel today.
My weight has been hovering around 200 pounds lately which is the highest it has ever been. Basketball season is starting in January and I’ve decided to referee again. My fear is not being able to make it up and down the court twice without being winded.
Today I went to the health club for the first time in over a year to meet with a trainer. We discussed my goals and he gave me a workout plan. We walked the floor so I could find the machines since the club has rearranged the floor since the last time I was there. I took the opportunity to use the elliptical machine for 35 minutes. It feels good today, but I’ll let you know how I feel tomorrow.
My wife has a new strategy when arguing with me. Our arguments are as intense as they have been in the past, but she apologizes shortly after the argument has peaked. It is very difficult to stay mad at her when she does this. It happened twice this weekend… very disarming.
We sold Geri’s 1995 Chevy Lumina on Monday. We were happy to see it go. It had over 180k miles on it and it was showing the wear. It needed tires, no air conditioning, and the passenger door is hard to open due to damage form an accident. The only reason why I was sad to see it go is I believe the engine will last another 70k miles easily. The 3100 is one of the engines GM built in that era that is known for durability. No news on the new car yet…
Last night I went to Miller Park with my father-in-law. He last attended a Brewers game over 20 years ago. There is something special about going to a ballgame with your father. Granted, he is my father-in-law, but it still had that feel to it. Unfortunately, the Brewers lost. I was hoping they would beat the Cards to bring the Cubs closer. I know the Cubs are a very long shot to make the playoffs, but I guess that is the Cubs fan in me.
It is 8:45 local time and we’re headed to Indianapolis for the “500.” I’ve been going to the race since 1988, the year that Emmerson Fittipaldi put Al Unser Jr. into the turn 3 wall during the last 5 laps of the race. Bastard.
I can’t remember being this excited on raceday morning since ‘88. Race analysts and racing legends like Mario Andretti and Rick Mears say that 12-14 cars have a legitimate shot to win. I think the smart money is on Helio to win if someone doesn’t take him out during the race
Conditions today are hotter and more humid than the teams have faced all month. Humidity means more drag and downforce on the car, but the higher temps will produce less grip for the drivers in the turns. The experienced teams should have enough data from past years to make the right adjustments. Newer teams will struggle for the first 100 laps but should be able to recover if they didn’t choose the wrong gears in the gearbox.
My predictions:
My head says Helio Castroneves will win but I would like to see Paul Tracy Mario Moraes pull it off. Paul needs one last hurrah in his career. Mario has been running very well all month and his team, KV Racing, has been making the right changes to the car.
Milka Duno will be out before the halfway point and she will blame something on the car.
Sarah Fisher will stay on the lead lap if her pit crew doesn’t make a mistake today. She is a small team with a limited budget, but I would like to see her do well.
Danica has matured since her debut in 2005. I’m not sure that Michael Andretti calling the shots for her is a good thing or not. I guess it is better for Marco that Micheal isn’t on his pit box today.
The Target boys will be strong. I think Dario will perform better than Dixon today. Look for a Dario and Helio race toward the end.
Then we have the greatest variable of all, weather. Scattered showers are predicted during the race. Don’t remind my dad that he forgot to pack his rain poncho. He’ll just blame my mother anyway.
No matter what happens, it should be a great race day in Indianapolis.
In an effort to jumpstart something to happen with this site, I’m going to import entries from my old iWeb site. My current thought process is that I will continue to work on the site and add some new entries.
