Twev1701.net

So today I plan on making a fun/work day. I started off my morning by sleeping in a little bit (9:30am), followed up by a wonderful breakfast prepared by my wife. Once breakfast was consumed, we watched a little TV for about an hour. After that, my wife retreated to the bedroom for a quick pre-work nap and I played through ‘The Force Unleashed’ demo for the third time.

Now that she is preparing to go to work, I think I am going to spend the rest of the day thusly. I am going to really clean up the computer room and get rid of all the stuff lingering in boxes. I’ll be doing all of this while watching & listening to TWiT Live. If nothing good is on there, I’ll hit up the media box and load up some Stargate Atlantis episodes.

Once the computer room is free of clutter (well, most of it at least) I will treat myself to a dinner of steak sandwiches. Once said sandwiches have been consumed, I will then relax and take a drive through Liberty City. If the mood arises, maybe infiltrate a military base and steal a helicopter. After that, maybe I’ll do a little covert ops in the middle east with my buddy Solid Snake. If all goes to plan, somewhere in the middle I hope to change the oil in my car in preparation for our trip to the beach.

Again, this is my loosely laid out plan. We’ll know in a few hours how much of it comes to fruition.

Did you ever wonder why things that used to fascinate you now tend to bore you? I found a picture tonight and it has me asking this question, among a few others. The picture in question is a webcam grab of me working on my computer back in 2004. I’m not sure of the exact date, but from some other corresponding pictures I found as well, I would venture a guess and say March of 2004.

What really fascinates me about this picture is he intensity of my gaze. This was right after I had hooked up a tri-monitor display to my Windows XP machine. This was back when I was very much single, and would come home from a long day of work, to a very empty house. I would immediately sit down at my computer, and not leave until it was time to go to bed. Then I would retire to the bedroom where I had another computer, my server at the time, and would throw on a bootleg movie and fall asleep to that. I look at that picture and I see someone who is now sort of alien to me. Sure, I still spend a fair amount of time at my computer, but nowhere the amount I used to. Also, when I am on the computer, I am no where near as engulfed as I appear to be in that picture. That’s the look of a man on a mission.

I know I’m a completely different person now that I was then. In the last 4 years I have fallen in love, let someone move into my home with me, married said person, accumulated a small zoo of pets, and lead a somewhat different lifestyle now. Back then, I was a free spirit; a digital Ronin if you will. Now, I have a wife, family, and responsibility. This little box full of microprocessors and magnetically stored information takes a backseat to my wife and family now.

Which brings up another point I have been pondering along the way.

Up until 8 months ago, I used a Windows PC exclusively. I know it’s the propaganda of the Cupertino Cult, but using a Mac rally does change you. I find myself spending less time on the computer because I don’t have to. With a PC, there is constant maintenance, while with a Mac, there is not. Plus, for some weird reason, I find that I am more productive with a Mac then I am with a PC. Weird, yes. Do I sound like Justin Long, maybe. But it is all true.

So you’re probably asking why I am obsessing about a stupid picture taken over 4 years ago. I think it’s for the same reason we still look at pictures from our wedding. Or why every once and a while we flip through our old high school year book. We sometimes get caught up in all our daily bullshit, that we forget what it was like to be young. We for get what it was like to be free of the responsibilities we now have to bear. We look back and deep down, are a bit envious that we’re not there anymore. But then you have to step back and look at what you have now, and be thankful that you made the right choices. Sure, you’re bound to make some mistakes, everyone does. But the important things is that you find happiness.

Back in 2004, obviously my computer made me happy. That was the center of my universe.

Flash forward to 2008, and my center of the universe has shifted slightly…for the better.

I finally got around to reinstalling Webcam XP on my laptop tonight, which means you should start seeing new ‘Lappy Cam’ pictures.

Just a quick update. That’s all.

About a month ago I got an email saying that on of my photos that I took while Jess and I were in Washington D.C. was selected as a finalist for inclusion in the Schmap Baltimore Fifth Edition.

Funny…I never entered any of my photos in any contest.

As it turns out, they found my photo, which was pretty cool. I checked out the site and it seems like a pretty cool concept. What it basically is is a map site that will show you actual photos of points of interest.

Well, today I get another email that a photograph I took of the Washington Monument made it into the Schmap Baltimore Fifth Edition. Here’s some linkage to the Washington Monument section where my photo is.

While it’s not that big of a deal, I think it’s pretty cool. Jess as always encouraged me to pursue my hobby of photography a little more then I have. After something like this, I may just have to take her advice.

As you may have noticed, I finally polished the new design/layout tonight. I actually took my time with this one, so you shouldn’t really notice any wonky behavior.

Well, that is unless you happen to be using Internet Explorer. In that case, you’re beyond help my friend.

As with all my design/layouts here, I’m not sure how long it will take me to get bored of this look. The last theme was one of the longest to hang around here. It was going strong for a good 18 months! It served its purpose well, and still is a great design, but I just wanted something new.

If you do happen to find something I overlooked, just throw me an email and let me know.

This has been a week of ideas for me. From ideas about where I want to go in my professional life, to my personal life, to ideas about a new venture, I’ve had plenty.

But that’s all that they are right now — ideas. The trick now is to turn those ideas into realities. I’m lucky enough right now that I am surrounded by the right people to make most of these ideas some to fruition.

The trick now, is to find the time and lay down the ground work for said ideas.

Unlike previous posts of this nature, I’m not going to spill my guts out and tell you what my ideas are. It seems like every time I do this, I never follow through. It could be that in my convoluted brain, once I type out the ideas, I feel that they are at last a reality and I’m done.

Sounds stupid, but my brain tends to work in quite mysterious ways.

Suffice it to say that right now I feel that I am at a place in my life where I can start to venture out a bit and experiment with some of these interesting ideas I have been having. Nothing grandiose, nothing world shattering, but just some different ideas I wouldn’t mind exploring a little more.

Yes, once again this is pretty much a post about nothing.

I had to wipe my remote webserver to fix a WordPress issue. So, things are going to be a wee bit wonky for a day or two while I get things 100% back to normal.