Happiness

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- 莊子 (350 B.C.)

I have ads!

Ok, just a quickie to clarify the ads on wooties. .. it's not like i'm selling out. (you 3.5 readers can rest assured at that). ... it's just i was curious as to the kind of ads Google ad sense would put up on wooties... (they're content sensitive). just got back from Vegas.. posting will continue. (and by posts, i mean rants)

Happy belated Birthday to EMAIL!

Man, i can't believe i missed it! on the 21st of October 1971, Ray Tomlinson and his blessed/cursed '@' symbol sent the first networked email. (well, to be fair the exact date of the email i can't confirm, but that's what i'm seeing on most other blog posts about the subject)

My first email account i got in '97. I still use it every once in a while, it gets on average 350-400+ emails a day, and all of them are spam. .. iHate spam. Anyway, if you think about it, Email is pretty much an essential part of life for most of the world now. Whether you like it, hate it, or just put up with it, Happy b-day Email!

Wooties for South Africa!!

heheh. i've been extended again.. maybe i'll make it home by November. .. lucky for me, the Client, and my Employer,  i love South Africa!! 

(i modified a comic from toothpastefordinner.com.. sorry Drew! .. don't hate me!) i love your shiz!

Random Thoughts, watching the South African sun set.

Well, it looks like they just cant get enough of me here in jo'burg. The client i'm here working for has requested i stay here an extra week for the project, and i agree. I think i'll return again around the middle of Oct giving me a whole week or so at home. i wish i would have taken my camera with me the last week or so, because i've pretty much been all over the place. but no one likes to look like a tourist i guess. .. well, at least not me. Since this is my 6th trip in less than a year and a half to South Africa, i've made lots of friends here and although i'm really not a social creature, i can't help but get to know and hang out with the people here.

Being in SA is very much different than being home back in Utah. For several obvious reasons. The thing i like most is the extreme differences that are prevalent every day here. so many different people from different places. races, colors, cultures and beliefs. Yes, that's what the states is all about, but here, it's so much more obvious. And i love it! Today i had a good portion of my day set aside away from work for the first time this trip to just to roam. I found a mall, and went there for lunch and then headed over to the LDS Temple here to eat on the lawn. I like Malls, its good people watching. .. good times. And as the sun sets here in the African sky here on the poorly kept grass, i can't help but think about how small the world really is, and how messed up it really is.

I've always been an open minded guy. I have some certain core beliefs that i would die for without a question, but at the same time, i love to learn what others believe and why. That's another reason why i love it here. It's very diverse. .. diversity is a two edged word, but in my current situation i view it as healthy. I think different perspectives are healthy for you. It will either make you question your true reasoning for believing in something or re-affirm it. Or in some cases, give you a different perspective to what you already believe or re-direct you to different beliefs.. .. not sure if this makes sense to you, but it does to me.

We silly humans always tend to make things more difficult than they really are. We  (as humans) like making blanket statements, categorizing whole peoples, races, countries, beliefs and colors. Which when you break it down, just makes you look silly when you look at yourself and where you really fit in.  Because no matter what you do or believe, you are an individual, and everyone you decide to look down upon and pass judgment is an individual also. ... Just like you. I believe it's built into you to be a good person, but boy it's hard to remain one. It takes a lot more effort to be a good person than a neutral person, and even less to be a bad person. Today, i past two different situations on the streets where i should have stopped and helped out. .. i didn't. i should have, no matter the fact that i'm in a foreign country and a minority. I did once, earlier on in the week, and it felt good. it was a simple situation, but it still felt good. But in that split second where you can make the decision for good, it's just too easily to decide to turn your head and ignore it, thinking that some 'other' good Samaritan will help out. .. weak. weak i say!  ... and i regret not helping. ... 

so. .. i'm going to try and kick myself harder when i get that feeling to help another. .. even if it's in an awkward situation. ... i will just put myself in whatever situation i find others that may need help ....  and i'll be that help from now on, if i can. .. well, at least i'll try harder now.  it seems like nothing right is easy nowadays.

:sigh:

be well eh?

A Wootious Upgrade

Ok so i tried to move wooties to a new server i've got up and running, and turns out that asp.net and framework 2.0 64bit don't like me much. I didn't have time to look into it much before flying out to South Africa, but i think i've got it fixed now. I ended up having to upgrade the software that i'm using for my blog, so i lost all my formating that i had the blog on earlier. oh well.

it may take me a bit to get everything back up and running. but hey. i'm Back!

 
i'll post something soon even!

Monday Random Linkage

So, i've been a bit slow at the blogage lately. Busy times i
guess. i’ve had a few linkage
posts in the past, here’s one more. i have several pages that i visit on a
daily basis to keep me up-to-date on my interests. Here's a few i'll share
today:

• For you discerning internet users that surf on
  multiple computers (laptops, desktops, etc) and you  use Firefox
  as your main browser, here’s a great little extension that allows you to share
  and sync up all of your bookmarks. This thing is a savior for me since i bookmark quite a few pages a day to follow-up on.  Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

• Parenthacks.com.
  Ok, so since i’m not really a parent, i don’t visit this site, but i figure if
  you are a parent, it’s a good resource. i found it through lifehack.org. … or
  maybe it was lifehacker.com. i don’t remember.

• i don’t’ have the cash to really spend on
  gadgets anymore, but if i did, i’d be checking woot.com
  and dealspl.us a LOT more often.

• Along the same lines are engadget and gismodo, their writers are ipod fanboys but
  they have good scoops on the latest tech toys.

• Work related links: i say work related, but in
  reality, they’re very good places to visit for insight on your RL (real life). i’m
  only going to put some of my newer discoveries here.  Project Management Source, Scott Berkun’s Blog, and i’ll repeat one
  of my favorites, Manager-tools.com.

Happy Monday!

Dead laptops and Dead Productivity

So last Monday, was a very sad day. My laptop died on me.
DEAD. As in, motherboard fried. Now, you have to understand, i’m somewhat of a
power user, i like to run a billion things at the same time and a normal laptop
processor just doesn’t cut it for me. Everyone made fun of the boat i toted
around the office, Clients in South
Africa gawked at it, but hey, it was a true
Desktop replacement! i’ll miss my dell 9100. RiP.

So, now i’m working on my laptop that work provided me
almost 2 years ago. it’s plain torture, the thing goes BSoD on me several times
a day (corrupted video memory) .. but hopefully the replacement should show up
this week.. i hope. i was almost
tempted to pull out the ‘ole credit card and buy my own again, but i’m close to
being cc debt free… :sigh:

Anyway, i bring this up because it’s made me think a lot
about productivity. Productivity is a big thing no matter what you do (or don’t do). And even though i have other computers around, not having a fully functional laptop has made a rather large dent in my productivity, both personal tasks that i need to get done, and work. Looking at my last post, i’ve
done a horrid job of managing my piles this last week. it seems the only pile i
paid attention to was my work pile. And if you were to take a step into my
flat, you’d agree with me 100%. The proverbial 'piles' are not so proverbial. .... And NO i can't blame all them thar large piles on teh broken lappy. ... but some of them i can.

i wont even attempt to go into my 'to-do' piles, but sheesh, it’s
gonna change. i saw over on Lifehack.org recently, that they’re starting a Productive
interview Section. i’m digging what i’m reading, (as i always do on lifehack). i’ll
be implementing some of these things as i try and drudge through my piles. i'll keep y'all updated as to teh piles 'o ryan.

A Change?

i’ve been reading up from some of my favorite blogs lately,
and getting some inspiration to try some change in my life. Try and better manage my time, organize my piles better and start paying attention to attention (for starters)… i’ve ran into a lot of similar
themed articles this last week, maybe there’s some underground network on the web trying
to tell me something.. heh, not really, that’s how the blog networks work (hence the whole web thing.. get it?). Take a
theme from a blog you read, build, spin or share it in your own way. Ya gotta
love how information disseminates on the net, there’s some really insightful
info out there. And i've decided to take some of this advice and try it out in the life of ryan.

i’ve read so much out there on how to improve one’s self,
surroundings and workplace. But i really haven’t put it into practice all that
much (70-80 hour weeks for months on end can kind of put a damper on things). So, i figure i’ll start. Better late than never eh? So, i’m going to
start working on reclaiming attention, and managing the piles and piles of
things in my life that i’ve been neglecting first. No more will i use the excuse of ‘long
hours of work’ to justify my silly procrastination. (that last sentence is a blatant lie)

Oooh boy, this should be
interesting, when i mean ‘piles and piles’ i mean PILES and PILES of neglected
shiz in the life of ryan.

i’ll be updating you, my faithful 2.5 readers on how i’m
doing. Sometime. Or maybe i'll put this post in my 'to be neglected' pile.. ya never know.

"Oh Death" …

Bad news is everywhere nowadays. It seems that that's what the
news is about lately. Horrible wars, about silly idealisms, Typhoons,
earthquakes, not to mention the horrific things going on everywhere else in the world right now.  ... i guess i could go on for hours and hours. But sometimes the
tragedy comes closer than you'd like. it's one thing to read or hear about the
news, it’s another to hear about tragedy close to you or your hometown. There
was a tragic accident near my hometown of Richfield this weekend. My mother
taught all of those kids. And in talking with my folks, one of my older brothers
made note that the last president of USU was killed in a possible drowning this
weekend also. (he worked under him for USU).  It's
hard when life is lost. no matter where it's lost. I guess it's just a sign of
the times. loss is everywhere. It's part of this timeline of the earth that
we're in at the moment, and it's going to get much much worse. We the living, just have to keep on understanding and striving to make things better and sacraficing what we can for those we care about until their time is up in this phase of our existance.

I have a good friend that i met while going to school in Cedar City, Brent Smith. He wrote a song named ‘Oh death’. It's sad, but  very
worth listening to in times like this. ... Hang in there guys.

Click here to listen to the song

Keep safe everyone.