More is never less

I've moved to another site.

2010-05-02T14:27:00.001-07:00

This blog, rest it well, is being continued at my own domain with a new motif, feel, and concentration. This one was okay for ranting about various things, but I feel it's time to take things in a more serious, writing-related, and new direction. It's still in infancy, but I'm enjoying it more.

Please visit, and if you have any suggestions, let me know. It's still rough, but easier on the eyes, and straight to the point. Thanks!

Here:

James Ashman

Obvious writing mistake: forgetting the world around you

2009-12-09T18:06:00.001-08:00

This irked me to no end. There is a particular Japanese anime I'm watching. Now, I enjoy anime, whether its the kind for kids, teens, adults, etc., I enjoy it all, usually. I've watched both magical girl and hard sci-fi epics, enjoying things as they are presented.

And usually, there is much suspension of disbelief. That's a given for most anime. "It cannot happen in real life, but here is how it does in our fake world." - that kind of stuff is great.

But several series add in another factor: slice-of-life. Day-to-day things, or otherwise plotless events. Sometimes they serve for some character development, but usually they are just events taking place in real life, even if it's magical creatures doing them.

And oftentimes, only the main characters exist. You hear of parents but never see them. You know that people walk in the streets, but they either aren't there or are faceless. And all of that, I can accept.

This is what I cannot: In this anime, a girl suddenly appears in the male main character's life. Skipping along, she tries joining his school, but it turns out she is extremely intelligent and is recommended to a better school next door. She reluctantly agrees, with the (blockheaded) male encouraging her to go (thus separating them). At that new school, she says some things that others think are lies, even though they are true. The school administrators and principals don't believe her, and imprison her in a room until she "stops lying" - this is a girls private/boarding school. The main male finds out, and tries to save her. But the school guard keeps him out. He calls the friend of the principal, but the friend doesn't have the power either. So they resort to sneaking into the school to break the girl out.

Did you catch what's missing? CALL THE POLICE, DUH. It's illegal imprisonment. The guardian isn't the school. Even if they are allowed to keep the girl confined while on school grounds, they are not allowed to keep out the guardian of the girl! CALL THE POLICE.

There was no reason whatsoever for them to avoid doing that. Several other things I've read and watched at least explain why, in passing, but not this one.

I cannot believe something so obvious is left out without a second thought. Obviously, this adds drama and conflict to the plot, but it disgusts the reader/viewer.

If you write a book that takes place in a world with laws, and your characters DON'T call 9-1-1 or get authorities involved when a conflict happens, have a good reason why!

November Novel Madness

2009-11-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

November is over! Today is the thirtieth, a month since my last post. It's been an interesting month that has passed extremely quickly.

I did the diligent thing and took part in my first Nanowrimo, and won! Of course, I wrote well over 10,000 words in the last week to play catch-up, but it was done.

But it wasn't as satisfying as writing The Lupine Prince. The difference between the two books? Together with Silver: The Lupine Prince took me 6 months of writing, 88k words. Dangerous Rainbows took 28 days and is 50k words. The difference is 6 times as much time but only 38k words, or 3 weeks of writing at Nanowrimo speeds. So, for the sake of argument, it took about 2.5 times as long to write the real novel.

And then the editing. It took me a few hours to do the spelling and grammar for the Nanowrimo book, specifically because I learned my lesson from TLP, which was to write with spelling and grammar in mind at all times, and knowing exactly what words I most-often wrote wrong. Mainly their/they're and it's/its, of course. The editing for TLP took months of word-by-word painstaking effort. That isn't to say DR doesn't need that, but I don't feel like it warrants the effort.

There is a lot of motivation at play. I like my characters in The Lupine Prince. I like the title. I know how much more I want the series to develop and play out. Bits and pieces of it still trickle in from time to time that I have to write down for future novels. I don't force those ideas to come, I wait for them. I didn't get that with Nanowrimo.

I'm still very much of the opinion that anyone aspiring to be a writer of any kind should sit and write a full-length novel, but I wouldn't endorse the one-month approach. It's not as satisfying.

That said, I think I'll do Nanowrimo next year as well. Because of the pros. Yes, I list cons first.

The thing I did love about Nanowrimo was that I have a better perspective on how much time I can spend writing. I've written in bursts here and there, but nano forced me to do them more often, daily if possible, and for hours at a time on the weekends that I had to use to catch up. I know that I can just turn off the computer in one room, boot up my laptop, and tap away in the corner of the house at any time.

I learned how to devote time.
That alone was worth the month.

(I find it interesting that this post, written without too much thought, has a lot of sentences I'd normally change to something more appropriate if they were in a novel. But I'm not trying to be perfect in a post, this time.)

Dangerous Rainbows

2009-11-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

The above is the title of the book I'm writing for Nanowrimo. It'll be a space opera, though the title was inspired by the random sayings of a five year-old several weeks ago.

I found out that Smashwords is doing a promotion for Nanowrimo, so we are able to upload our works-in-progress to them!

Tired, so I'm ending with a link to the profile I just set up.

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kelindk

Plotting for Nanowrimo? Nah.

2009-10-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

Nanowrimo is upon us! And there is a whole hullabulub going on. A hundred thousand people, each aiming to write 50,000 words in a single month.

And meanwhile, I've picked up my book again and written another few thousand words this last week. And then timed myself as to how long it took to write words that had been somewhat in my mind already. About 45 minutes to an hour per thousand words. Of course, they were good words, but still... at that rate, I will need 50 free hours to do Nanowrimo. Two hours per day.

Thats assuming I'll know what to write. And you know what? I don't.

But I have that much time.

I've browsed the forums a bit, and everyone is plotting, character making, delving into what they are going to start doing soon. But I'm not, and I don't think I really will until 10/31/2009. Why?

Several reasons. One is that I cannot start writing yet. If I cannot start the story till 11/01/2009, then even if I come up with something, it won't be on paper. The second is that I work better this way. Come up with an idea, write a bit, sleep on it, write some more. But writing those first few lines are what sets the stones, the foundation for whatever is to come. If they haven't been written, then it's as good as doing nothing. Even character creation or plotting doesn't work for me unless I've written something down.

Come the 1st, I'll have something. The question is, what will it be?

I've been gravitating towards space opera, various sci-fi, another fantasy, a spin-off of my published book, or a high school baseball romance. That last one is Mitsuru Adachi's area, one of my favorite authors to read.

Meanwhile, I've been reading several other books. Sci-fi, action, epics, in the past few weeks. So no matter what I settle on, I'll have a base.

No plot? No worries. I have far more time than two hours per day. I want to write a good book in a months time. Something that will not require endless editing and re-drafting. The goal of the month is simply to get out 50k words. My goal? A novella that is written well, structurally, plot-wise, and of decent length.

And I wholly believe... well, I'll see what happens. Have fun with it!

No magic, vampires, demons, etc.

2009-10-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

After pushing hard, I've managed to get the Kindle version of my book up for sale the day after it was available in paperback form! And to promote both, I've uploaded chapter 1 to mininova. Since that's going before a worldwide audience, I added a disclaimer at the end. I should add it here as well, since it may be of importance to some. The fantasy category is often filled with various works that could offend some readers. That includes even the common use of magic. Some don't have a problem with it, some do. None of my works will have it, for various reasons of my own, but it's usually assumed that fantasy will have magic.

So:

For the entire Together with Silver series-
A note for concerned parents: Although the characters themselves aren't of the normal variety, this work of fantasy will not contain any magic. It does have creatures that couldn't really exist, things that cannot really happen, and strange events that might not seem explainable at first. But the explanations will fall under science fiction, not magic. Rest assured that this work is for all audiences. My goal was to make a fantasy world full of both strange creatures and adventure, that wouldn't offend anyone.

With that said, one more thing I didn't include in the mininova book:

My characters consist of many species that have animal traits and looks, but they aren't monsters or similar. That's just how they are in a diverse world. My way of making diversity visual was to make the characters have different animal qualities. Some couldn't exist in reality, but none of them are outside the bounds of something you'd find on Star Trek. In fact, a certain Star Trek episode was the spark for creating a certain species. Kind of obvious once you know that, but it could be misconstrued as otherwise if unknown beforehand.

So:
Paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3388491
Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SSUVLU
Free download of chapter 1: http://www.mininova.org/tor/3046587

Thanks to those who've suffered through my dull affair!

Reading frenzy

2009-10-12T19:34:00.001-07:00

The frenzy is over. Whether for good or bad, typo'd or not, the final copy is done. That's right. Almost at the end of my long journey to write and self-publish a book. I've gotten three proof copies since 09/22/2009, reading one each weekend. Reading the same book over and over, even my own, would usually be wearisome. And amazingly, it was enjoyable, again. Though I did read through the final draft much quicker than then rest.

But it's over! And I'm exhausted. I really want to write about what an experience writing a novel and doing everything after that myself was, but I know this is just the beginning. And I'm tired and don't want to write more.

So, although at this moment you cannot buy it, here is the place to go when it's ready. Eventually it will appear on amazon as well. From what I've heard, amazon's shipping will be a bit cheaper, but they take a much heftier chunk of the profit if it's sold by them and not here. I've enjoyed working with createspace. Hopefully, I'll publish many more novels. I'm already working on a sequel to The Lupine Prince.

Later on I'll be adding a place to freely download chapter 1 as well. And will probably add chapter after chapter after that. And I'll be making a kindle version as well. And any other e-format I can figure out.

But for now, I'll settle for the paperback version. It's about 88k words, by the way.

Did I link it enough? Well I do have a point to endorse! Laugh!

The importance of proper spelling, correct grammar, and craft.

2009-10-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

I've read a few interesting discussions lately. One was an argument, really. It involved a bad speller who wanted people to critique their ideas, not their grammar and spelling. Another was a blog post asking "how important is creativity over craft?"

I think creativity is nice, but I want craft to be integral. Thus:

A creative work creates a lovely picture. It's hard to see what that picture is supposed to be when there is a dollop of paint in the corner, glaring at you. A painting isn't a work of art if it's littered with blank spots, is it? It doesn't matter what the picture is supposed to look like if the observer doesn't see that.

It becomes difficult to read when anything is misspelled. People stop reading, look at the word, and then spend a moment trying to guess what it was supposed to be. It breaks flow and concentration, which causes frustration. If you're a writer, you can't frustrate your readers. Otherwise, what's the point of writing?

Writers are able to change thoughts into words and phrases that then resound with other people. A writer isn't simply someone with an idea; they are a person with normal ideas who can craft them into something extraordinary.

Expression is more than simply thinking an idea. It's conveying it.

It's almost always about conveying thoughts with words. If a reader cannot read the words, then how will they understand the thoughts?

They must able to read something without frustration. Readers cannot understand the author's point of view if they cannot understand what the author is writing.

Of course, an idea, a good one, has to be present to begin with. But the more I write, the more apparent it becomes to me that knowledge of how words really work is important.

(I'm glad I spell checked this before posting. "Their" always gets me. I'm really beginning to hate that word.)

How can there be more the second time?!

2009-10-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I said I had finished reading and resubmitting the first proof copy of the book. Well, yesterday, another Monday, I finished reading and resubmitting the second proof copy.

And I found more errors than before. Ones I hadn't seen before, ones I had but had left to stylistic interpretation. And structure. And various other things. While doing that in my copy, my sister read the first proof for the first time. She found some mistakes I had missed, but only a few.

She said, as did the other readers who've seen it so far, that the intro takes a little time to get into. But it then picked up quickly and kept their interest. She read most of the book in a single day. That's good praise, in my opinion.

About: Fervi the planet

2009-10-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

The world of Fervi is orbited by a brilliant blue moon. Underneath this blue light resides several sentient species, most of which are humanoid.

With feathers and clear eyes: the abundant avians.
Lazy or energetic at the flip of a switch, wily, and always unpredictable: the cat-like felis.
There are lumbering rhinos, bearans, and swine, though they appear similiar to walking, talking versions of rhinos, bears, and pigs.

The frightful lupus: long-lived, strong, and aggressive. They take pride in their wolfish heritage.

Yet the minority rules in Rising: humans.

P.S.

About rhinos: Note that the sentient species in the book is pronounced rye-nos, not rye-nose as the Earth animal is called. Since it's unlikely any actual animal rhinos will be appearing in any of the Together with Silver series, I will leave the spelling as it is, instead of using rhi'nos. And it's a fantasy book, so its fine!

Always another discrepancy

2009-09-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

The last four days have seen me with my head in a book. My own, as I searched for errors while I enjoyed the story. After having read it several times over for editing months ago, I was pleasantly surprised this time.

The final count of discrepancies in the proof copy? Not bad, actually. 45 or around there. 5 of those were something I decided I really want capitalized for the final. 9 were spacing issues caused by the justified line structure. The other 30 consisted of a few missed words, a couple missed commas, hyphens, and apostrophes, and some word changes/removals. I was pretty happy with flow, spelling, and grammar though. Most of the discrepancies are minuscule and might not even be noticed without someone pointing them out. Now, time to implement the corrections, then await a new proof copy.

Writer's Workshop Vision Statement

2009-09-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

In follow-up to Monday's post, now comes the vision statement.
"To see my works in the hands of children that become adults. They mature in time along with the characters. Things they can pin to a moment in their lives."

A bit grandiose, as usual, but it was a spur of the moment type idea. And it's true. A series you read over the course of years is extremely interesting. Or wait till its all done years later, and read an entire series all at once in a month. I've done that a few times, it's fun.

On word/page goals.

2009-09-22T23:10:00.001-07:00

When I started The Lupine Prince, I had a goal of between 80,000 and 120,000 words, novel length by definition. I ended at about 88k. For Together with Silver, Book 2: XXX (title undecided), I initially set one goal: longer.

Then I did some math and decided to go by pages at a certain font, Times New Roman, 12 point font. Since that gave TLP about 110 pages or less (I think), I set an arbitrary goal of 200 pages for book two! A lofty goal, indeed! I had a few events in mind, and decided I wanted one event by page 50, another by page 100, and so on. And I like thick books. Of course, that font is pretty nice to read.

I now have my proof copy of TLP, so I'll be soon ready to approve it (if it's perfect), and then can start distributing books!

So yes, that font and size is nice to read. Which is good. Cause I'm not sure how many pages book two will really end up being! Cause I just hit the 25,000 mark with book 2 today! And that is page 40 in my word document! And, well, I'm not sure if that lines up very well with my initial plans. But it'll probably work out even better, allows me more freedom to really fill up on pages.

If it does get long, I can always cut the book at a point where the title would no longer apply. But then, I have to think of a title! The Lupine Chevalier, maybe?

Writer's Workshop Mission Statement

2009-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday's writer's workshop provided ideas. Written as part of an exercise was there was the following mission statement. I like it, for now. It's changed from my original mission, which used to simply be, "Write something that I'd want to read."
Now, it's:
"To author works (fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, heroics, stories! etc.) that motivate and uplift in a positive way via fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, heroics) and stories. To write something people look up to, learn from, and be constantly entertained by."

The positivity meant is the tone and style of the work, mostly. So although bad things can happen in them, the writing style itself doesn't depress the reader, but instead makes them wonder what is coming next. Whether it will be resolved. Or how a character will cope and overcome a pessimistic problem.

I have a feeling that will change as time goes by, but that fits a little with the book I'm working on now, the sequel to The Lupine Prince.

A completed book

2009-09-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

Is a good thing to have in hand. Except, it's still in the mail and isn't in my hand yet. But, the proof copy is on the way, at least. I'm the writer and designer of a series, Together with Silver, and I just finished book 1, The Lupine Prince. Actually it was done in February, but editing and having pros. edit it took a while. I have a createspace storefront ready, but I'm waiting on that proof.

https://www.createspace.com/3388491

It's about a half-human, half-wolfish boy of just 8 who doesn't know who his human father is. He tries to be normal in a world of human-like beings with animal traits, like upright swine and avians - people with feathers. And they think HE's the weird one for being half of the wolf people, half human! But anyways, events around him happen, forcing him to discover truth after truth about friends and family, meanwhile stuff is happening in other parts of the world that make their way to his city. All of this accumulates in his discoveries of truth, leading towards personal truth.

It's really an entertaining story, since my main motivation was to write something I personally wanted to read and be entertained by, a story for me. Of course, now it's by me. I really wanted to write something others would enjoy reading, and once they put down would go: "That was fun! When's the next one coming out?" So, it is a children's novel of sorts, but every adult who proof-read it seemed to be surprised at how much they really ended up enjoying it! Oh, and the series itself is going to cover a long period of time, this is a very ambitious project! In fact, it will involve several books, several plots, different point's of view, and I may even change main characters in different books (or have multiple "main" characters in one book!)

It's not supposed to make sense. 1

2009-03-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Theater 1

A-kun: "It's joke, you're supposed to laugh."
B-san: "If it was a joke, why wasn't it funny?"

A-kun: "Because it's not supposed to be funny!"
B-san: "Then what's the point of telling a joke?"

A-kun: "Not all jokes that are supposed to be funny really are, right?"
B-san: "Right."

A-kun: "Then if the joke isn't supposed to be funny in the first place, and if people don't laugh, it succeeds, and if they do laugh, even better! I call it the no-fail joke!"
B-san: "Something has failed, all right."

Theater 2

A-kun: "Why is paper square?"
B-san: "It's not. It's a rectangle."

A-kun: "Let's assume you're right."
B-san: "I am."

A-kun: "Why does it form a rectangle when folded?
B-san: "It's a rectangle to begin with!"

A-kun: "The square."
B-san: "It's a rectangle."

A-kun: "Oh, that it is. Thank you!"
B-san: "What just happened?"

That winter feeling.

2008-12-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

Vacation starts in two days. Home sick today, and more likely tomorrow. Artificially extended vacation.

Happens every time. Body instinctively knows when a vacation from work is coming up, so it purposely gets sick beforehand. It's happened for the last 3 vacations I've taken. Not just the average "I don't feel well" - stuff that we all get from time to time. No, this is really, really bad stuff. Like the sinus infection last year that turned my one week stay at a friends house into a Tylenol eating marathon. Now this year, with the cough, fever, and more coughing. My JOB requires me to speak. I can't do that.

We're actually in the slow season, so I've been getting off work after only a couple hours anyways, but there is something really annoying about getting sick the days before you take a vacation. It's a blow to your pride, and makes you wonder if your managers are second guessing whether you are sick or not. Personal thoughts, though not reality.

I've proven to myself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your mental condition, expectations, etc., WILL affect your body, even if you don't realize it.

I didn't purposefully look forward to or stress over having a vacation coming up. It's just happened.

Upset with what you dont understand.

2008-12-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

I was on the phone with someone today, asking for the usual information that she is used to giving to everyone who calls. But then I asked for something additional. She exploded, because she didn't know what I was asking, and thought it was something extra. I was asking for public information, actually, but she couldn't understand that. Why? Because it wasn't part of her job to know that an aviation company has to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration under a particular code of numbers; she was just the human resources person.

Why is that important? Well, I asked for information about a pilot. As an employee, she was more than happy to give information stating when he worked there, and as what. But when I asked about what type of federal regulations they fell under, she didn't know, and in fact started getting angry with me for asking. I asked for the chief pilot, she said I'd have to find out myself. So I hung up, called the exact same number, asked the operator for the pilot division, then talked to them. They provided the information freely, considering that it's part of federal law that they provide that information to us. She mentioned that HR is actually the people we request these records from, of all surprises! I told her about what had just happened and she said "Yeah, HR's brain kind of explodes when you start talking about pilot stuff. Just fax it to them, they will ask us for any info we have, and then somehow it will all get completed and sent back to you."

Overall, it was a normal experience (I've got a pretty tough skin when it comes to confusing and aggravating phone calls nowadays), but for one aspect. It got me thinking, why did that HR person get so upset when I asked for something I always ask aviation companies for?

She didn't know. That's the answer. She didn't understand what I was saying. I was talking in a type of language where she understood the words, but not the meanings, and it frustrated her to the point where she refused to help. Its one of the rarest things I've come across, but it does happen. I have to ask for certain things, and I'm required to by federal law. However, some people just don't realize that those laws are in place, and get extremely upset when they are asked to give more than the usual, more than they know or understand.

Being upset with something you don't understand is reaction that we can all sometimes have. Lets not take it out on the people that do understand, please.

Action is the father of invention

2008-12-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

I think we go through a process. Inspire, think, revise, act, regret, repeat.

What if we could go from being inspired to acting, right away?

And in the process, do we eliminate everything else?

First thought is that what would happen to rationality and sensibleness and not acting on impulse at that point? That's not what I mean, so forget those thoughts. I mean the kind of action that motivates you to make a business deal or ask a girl out or take a new job or become a novelist. Not the impulsive desire to cheat, steal, lie, or flip off that really big guy to see if those muscles are just for show. Reasonable stuff ALSO starts with an impulsive decision.

I've thought about doing stuff, where an idea just came up that I really thought was great. Then I thought about how I'd do it. And decided not to. Or doing it anyways after much thought and revision, then regretting the entire thing. It wasn't what I originally visioned.

But lately I've been trying to go right from inspiration to activity, then afterwards revising and reconsidering what I've already acted on. It's been wonderful.

I, you, we, don't act on impulse. The smart impulse. We doubt and try to see it's feasibility first. We ask naysayers who will only say one thing. Or me, who's first response to anything is usually "NO!" - I disclaim all my firm no's with: "Since I'm usually wrong when I say 'no, thats not possible,' go do it anyways."

I have things I want to do. I have motivation, a reason, inspiration, desire, ability, and resources to do them. But I've thought about it, and there is one thing missing. Action! I've thought about it too long, and now that good idea is a nice thought.

So when inspired, ACT, don't wait and try and figure out the exact dollar amount of the benefit. If you wait too long, you may have every ability and motivation to do it, yet still not act.

Now I finally decided on a title for this post. You can need something, like food, yet not do anything about it. Act, eat.

Joel Canfield Performing Original Stuff

2008-07-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Stepdad and sister performing original music. Watch it. Good music.
Joel Canfield and Russia Saturn

Staring at fire

2008-06-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

I could watch fire for an hour. Not much longer though. Unless it isn't flickering. But a good fire is always flickering. Family is in the other room, watching Corner Gas. There as a scene with a girl watching a fire log on... television? Sweet.

The fire channel, all fire, all the time, no smoke!

Ironic, considering California is just filled with fires right now. Fortunately, it's not too close to where I live, but there have been a few days up here where the smoke was so bad I couldn't breathe outside. But that was on the worst day... overall it's not that bad here.

Oh ouch. I'm reading the daily news. A couple medical helicopters collided in Arizona. I know one of the companies involved. That's not good.

On a good note, is Gates leaving MS, as one news commentary points out. He suggests that with some old blood out of the way, they might change a few things. Like getting rid of Vista, scratching Win7, and seriously starting from scratch.

I like windows because it's versatile, complex, and controllable. But the second 2 are bad in general (I'm a bit odd in the kind of stuff I like), and the first is only because of circumstances: the majority of developers and consumers don't use the Mac or Linux architectures, the only real alternatives. Linux is getting up there though. But Mac just seems like a business trying to sell their own product, and only caring about themselves. Great business, but that's just it, ALL business.

Oh, I finished watching a season of Law and Order. Season 6, it was great. I don't normally watch TV, just because American stuff is just usually so... eh. Although, I could say the same about all the anime I watch, but its much more interesting and entertaining. But I do love Law and Order now. But I doubt I'll be watching it again. I'd have to spend time getting it and watching it. And as I found out, I like it too much, I'd probably spend a few days watching all the episodes. Oh, and original law and order, not SVU or Criminal Intent. That stuff is just too much.

We need a fire log channel!

Testing Jott voice activated...

2008-06-26T21:57:00.001-07:00

Testing Jott voice activated thingy. It's fun. So, new book idea is about time travel, sweet, huh? listen

Powered by Jott

What color is you coffee?

2008-02-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

I've decided, instead of having a separate blog, Ill keep all my thoughts in one place. So, bye to another site, I'll add its currently one post here. I really enjoyed thinking about this post though,

Coffee Colors:

At work, we have a Keurig coffee machine. (For more info, go to its dot.com). Those familiar with this know that the coffee and tea is contain in this small K-Cups. Each of which is in a complementary box, in rows, with no particular order.

Now, this is where understanding of the situation is needed: We do not have that many varieties of coffee and tea. Or maybe we do. I don't know. But why I don't know is very important to our marketing lesson. There is one brand of tea that we definitely carry though: Celestial Seasonings. There is a brand of coffee that we carry: Tullys. The others escape my memory. There are 3 other coffees we have. One is in a blue box, another is in a red box, and another is in a brown box. But there may be a fourth... in a green box. None of these brands do I remember by name, and that's really important.

Now, Most people know Celestial Seasonings. If not, then just know this: It usually comes in a green box. The logo for CS is green. Tullys coffee, mentioned above, is also green, with bits of brown.

Now, ignore for a second that there are all these different brands of coffee and tea. The brands are completely irrelevant. And imagine what the cupboard looks like from my perspective: I open the cupboard, and there are two rows of boxes, each row with 8 boxes, each a different product. There is one red box, two blue boxes, three brown boxes and ten green boxes.

Which coffee do I take? I'm really tired, so I take from the red box. An hour later, the red box is gone, empty, so for the rest of the day, I take from one of the two blue boxes.

Why don't I take from the green boxes? Or the brown ones?

Answer: Red caught my eye first. Not only that, but the red coffee was labeled as "jet fuel" coffee. It's actually by these people at http://www.coffeepeople.com/. So I picked it for three reasons.

One: Eye catching.

Two: Labeled for its purpose, a wake-up type coffee, and that makes a difference to a tired person.

Three: Unique, it was the only lone box of red color. This is still separate from point one, as red is eye catching, but not always unique.

Blue: Obviously, point's one and three have some application. Mostly point three, since now there are only 2 blue boxes, and the rest are brown and green. But wait, why not a brown box?

Brown and Green: That's right, this is where it boils down to the heart of the matter. Green and brown are linked together! Green is dominant in the cupboard. And green means only one thing in my mind: TEA. Now, some of the boxes are green and brown. That forms the first linked association. Not only that, but green and brown are naturally associated with each other as earthy colors, the ground and nature. In the mind of someone who isn't really paying attention to brand and product selection, like me in the morning, they will automatically associate all the green and brown boxes together as tea, even though only five out of the thirteen boxes contain tea! That is the second linked association.

Now, there is more. This isn't just a simple passable case of overstocking one product compared to another, and creating an artificial demand. No, this goes even deeper into the original product creation. I'll summarize the points quickly, and leave you to consider the meanings.

The red coffees are their own brand, and the label was towards "waking up." What separate brand of nationally known coffee is also labeled red, and has a jingle about waking up? Folgers. (The best part of waking up, is the Folgers in your cup.)
The blue coffee was actually flavored coffee, with some delicious types offered. What national brand is also labeled blue, and emphasizes that it has a good taste? Maxwell house. (Good to the last drop.)

Smart marketing, or coincidence? It's possible on all counts. Most likely, it was coincidence. But it doesn't change the fact that these connections can be made, albeit subconsciously, by consumers. After all, someone had to pick out the coffees to buy for our company. Did they really only pick the available brands, or did something motivate them to get bold red coffees, and flavored blue coffees, and stock a only a little of each while maintaining a large stock of green coffees and tea's? Discount the other varieties, take note of the fact that whether or not there is other items available, there is still only a few remembered. Long time advertisements still apply to goods that are different, yet similar in design. Even seemingly tangent idea's can have a large influence.

the brilliant green

2008-02-17T22:39:00.001-08:00

I just discovered, for the second time, the J-rock band, the brilliant green. How? Watching Gundam 00 ep 18, and I'm watching the opening credits (new, with the brilliant green's song) see their credit line, and just have to stop as the gears in my head start turning.

Where have I heard them before?
I know I've listened to them before, where?
Wikipedia... hmm, nice entry on them.
One of times top 10 bands in the world?
Did they do any anime songs before?

NO!

Then I remembered. About 4 years ago, I downloaded all of their albums one day on a whim - they were all on a bit torrent site, and had a good caption in the description field. So I figured "what the heck, lets download some J-rock that other people think is good".

I've actually heard ALL their stuff at least 5 or 10 times over.

And now I get to discover them for the second time. It's an amazing feeling to discover something previously forgotten, especially good music!

The Dvorak keyboard / Kiwi Sake

2008-02-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, I found a very interesting item. The Dvorak simplified keyboard is a different keyboard layout. I had known that the keyboard we normally used is based off the original typewriter design. The QWERTY keyboard was made with the physical strokes of the typewriter in mind, by forcibly slowing down the typist, in order to avoid jamming. Most people already know this. But instead of being replaced once computers became the norm, QWERTY remains in power. I could care less about the specifics, and more am just interested in the design. I would love to try it. I'm a fast typist. Not extremely fast, but I can take slow dictation, or write medium paced shorthand interpretations of what was said. That's somewhere a little over 50 wpm, but not much faster. As someone who types all day long, I relish the idea of trying something different, that doesn't involve so much keyboard movement. So, here's a little informative site. Notice that the vowels are all right on the left home row.

Also of interest is that the fastest typist in the world does over 200 wpm with one of these keyboards, Barbara Blackburn. Really.

Interested? Want the keyboard? Unfortunately, nobody makes them. It's very interesting though.

Soaking sake in some kiwi's sounds good. I've been thinking about cucumber soju ever since watching a korean drama, 18vs.29, and now, I think I'll get some. It's really simple: get fruit, soak in sake or soju, drink newly flavored drink. Enjoy.

News lately

2008-02-14T16:13:00.001-08:00

Is it just me, or does it seem as though there has been a rash of depressing news lately. I'm not really in a mood to write much this week, but today, as I read the news about the latest shooting, I thought it over in my head. I could have sworn this is the third shooting at a school or university I've read about very recently. Maybe even more. Is it happening more often, or is it getting reported more often?

That or I'm just losing track of all the news lately. I need a break... three day weekend coming up, that'll be good. Geez.

RE-EDITED: Childrens skirts - what are manufacturers thinking?

2008-02-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

My little 4 year old sister just got clothes from a friend of the family, a huge bag of old clothes. Inside is THIS. What is this, you ask? Well, it's a small skirt. A very small skirt. It's for a 6 year old, but it would be a bit too small for my sister, a taller than average 4 year old. Cute? Maybe. To me, or the rest of my family? No way in @#$%. Why? Let me explain. First, yes, it is small, even for a 6 year old. It also has a lot of metal zippers. I count... Five. Three of those are okay. Front pockets each have a zipper, and of course the middle. Where are the other two?

Well, thats the problem. There is one more, on the back, in the middle. It zips up and down for the 3 inches just right there. It's a slit... THERE. WHY?! Why does there need to be a slit there?

And the final zipper? You can see it in the picture. Thats right. This short skirt actually zips the lower portion off, and becomes... a miniskirt.

We're throwing this out the second the little one isn't looking.

My question: Why? What is this for? Why must a young kid try to imitate things she shouldn't? This is wrong on so many levels.

BIG GIANT EDIT: Okay, turns out our parental outrage was not justified. I'm leaving the original post as is so that we can all laugh about it now. It turns out, we were wrong on both counts for what the two extra zippers are, and in a stupor didn't think to unzip them before getting outraged.

It turns out, they are used to LENGTHEN the skirt, NOT make it a mini. Somehow, I think hanging our heads in ridiculous shame comes into play. On second thought, I really wish I had a clip of us doing that, to put it on At You, Not With You.

Easy, tasty pancake recipe

2008-02-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Small recipe, can be expanded as needed. Simple, no sugar, tastes good, very fluffy, and doesn't require you to have a set pancake size. My favorite is to use a very hot cast iron pan, about 12 inches, and make 2 large pancakes with it. The pan should be so hot before placing the batter on it, that the butter used to prep the pan for the cooking should practically evaporate when dropped onto the pan. Enough butter needs to be used to coat the entire surface to cool it down slightly, so about a tablespoon. This is just my preference, since I like cooking things fast.

Ingredients

2 cups flour (I prefer whole wheat unbleached)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons vanilla

Prep:
Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, vanilla, and melted butter. Add to flour mixture, mix until smooth. Cook on a very hot and buttered or greased griddle (cast iron preferred, but I know many people done have one, so any griddle will do), use ANY amount of batter for each pancake, depending on preference. 3/4 cup for about 2 pancakes, 1/4 cup if looking for regular size pancakes, which comes out to about 8 or 9 total. Cook until brown on one side and around edge - you should be able to tell without flipping if the top of the batter forms small bubbles. Also, the entire pancake will be firm enough to turn with a spatula without dripping or breaking apart. Turn and brown the other side - which should take half the time of the first side. This normally serves 4.

Favorite foods for every occasion / Better than coke.

2008-02-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

I have a favorite food for each occasion or way I am feeling. What prompted this? I'm about to make breakfast (after 1 pm, ironically), and have picked my all-time favorite. It's simple, it takes a while to make, it's very filling, and I only make it on weekends when I have enough time to make and then eat it. What is it?

Pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

Simple as that. It is the weekend, I'm really hungry, and I have the time to enjoy this meal with a few good movies. But what is special about it?

I eat it as dinner sometimes, or as a special treat. It's not sweet, the pancakes are very simply eggs, milk, flour, butter, salt, and baking powder. It doesn't have a special taste. It's not like I love it more than other foods. But why then? I could just as simply have cereal or oatmeal. Or a chocolate protein shake for calories. Or a number of different things.

It's then that we as individuals begin to think on our food habits. I could really go for Chinese food, yet I'm also wanting a "western breakfast." I want some kind of snack between meals, which I have determined must either be hot chocolate, tea biscuits, or yogurt. For dinner's, always something with a meat in it, whether its red or white.

What prompts these feelings, these desires. What makes a milkshake better than a coke on a Sunday afternoon?

At you, not with you

2008-01-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

... is finally starting. What is it? The chronicles of our family. Oh yes. Definitely yes. We have a very funny family member. She doesn't try to be funny, but she is. Not purposeful at all. Purely natural. So, the title is all about her. At you, not with you. Laughing at you, NOT laughing with you. Watch the teaser today, and then again in a week (its getting progressively longer...). Maybe we will have a full episode out eventually!

http://atyounotwithyou.com/
http://atyounotwithyou.com/

Clicky clicky.

I'll probably add another lengthy post later.

Right now? She is dying in laughter while watching the clip over and over. And yes, I'm recording it.

Update: Fiona (Kerblona) offers her thoughts on dinner:

Find anything online

2008-01-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not really that much of one. But everyday I discover just about a hundred new things online that I didn't know existed before. Take squidoo for example. I knew of Seth Godin, but I had no idea about this site. Now, as part of my real life job, I look for information online. Most of it is business only information, so I tune out a lot of generic or popular stuff. But in the course of my running around, going from here to a link here, I found some interesting things. But about wink.com (second link), it's great. It's an online people search.

Not a background check or address check, but an online people search. I found my sister's long lost myspace's, numbers 1 and 2 since she forgot the password to the first one, neither of which I had known of in the first place. Thats not all. I found a friend that I only knew by first name. Interested? Read on!

I have a very good friend, who I have known only online. Hey, in this digital age, it's not that uncommon. But, I knew their first name, and city. So, I plugged that into wink.com, and searched. Well, it wasn't the first result... or the 20th, or the 30th. But around number 35, there it was. I didn't know it was them because of the photo, but by the "unique" myspace description wink had linked. Sure enough, I had stumbled upon my friend's myspace. Roxxor, right? Looking back, I could have asked, but keep in mind, I don't have one, so I don't think of it.

Now, finding someone's myspace is cool. But how about going farther? This is where it gets interesting.

Well, as part of our contact, we had exchanged email addresses, of course. So, google email address. One result, and one result only, a member profile on a message board. On the profile, there is a website link. Now, anyone who knows about websites, knows that the registered owner of a website... you can easily find out exactly who they are through whois. It wasn't going to be that easy though, because the website linked was inactive. It was an inactive profile after all.

So... what next? Easy! Search the website name and url (together and seperate), which lead to the deciding element: A livejournal, where the website was posted by the friend, when the originally got it! Now, the gold nugget here, was the screen name used on the livejournal. It was entirely different than any other name used before. A quick google search on the screen name, and what results do we have?

Result: (Arts commentary website)
From: (Friends first name) (Friends previously unknown last name) (Friends newly discovered screen name)

Now what was the point of all this? Besides for the obvious online stal... research. Really, this is an example of what you can find online when you have the right tools. There is a huge amount of information, and once you have the tools, you can find ANYTHING online. Sure would be nice to finish that where to find anything online lens.

Find anything online. What a frightening concept. :)

My Cheesecake Lens

2008-01-29T00:11:00.000-08:00

Now that I have discovered squidoo, I had to make a lens about one of my favorite things. This is just a literally 10 minute put together, but I want to do a lot with it. Without further ado:

Eating and Making Cheesecake

Bah, I hope it doesn't link my own blog to my lens at the bottom. Well, as long as I don't include "cheesecake" in this text, it should be fine.

Ellipses

Original Work is Original

2008-01-28T13:56:00.000-08:00

I just encountered an honest web page on another blog. Let me tell you the short yet offending story about the person who did wrong, and then I'll tell you about the person who did right.

There is an amazing manifesto written by Seth Godin. If you don't know who he is, find out ASAP, then come back :). Link is at the bottom, linked in what I'm going to link (hey might as well give the person who did right some traffic, no matter how little).

The person who did wrong: They read Seth's book, saw the basic idea's were good, and then COPIED it, slightly rewrote it in their own words, just enough to fool search engines, and then posted it as their own original idea. It would have been fine if they had given Seth Credit, but instead, they changed what the idea was about, and marketed it to another group, the Blogging community instead of the SEO community. Being part of both, I'm pretty ticked at seeing this flagrant disregard for copyright. No, you don't get his link. Those who do wrong don't get traffic! Want it? Then come post a comment to my site as well, I won't remove the commented link :).

As for the person who did good, they said, simply, that SETH GODIN came out with a great product, gave the link to download it for free, and made a VERY efficient summary of the three U's in a few short paragraphs.

Click here for a direct link to the post. I don't really have an opinion on the rest of the site, I just have to applaud him for doing the right thing.

My Gym Membership Story

2008-01-27T16:18:00.001-08:00

A few years ago, I signed up for 6 months at a local gym. I paid with a check, the complete total all at once. I went maybe 3 or 4 times, and then slacked off. I didn't care since my job was physical labor at the time, and I could eat 6000 calories a day without gaing a pound. Well, then I moved, not just a few miles, but hundreds of miles away, to my current location.

I work here for about 6 months, and one day I check my bank account online. I see this charge I dont recall making in my purchases area. Now, you have to keep in mind, my banking is divided into about 3 different KINDS of purchases, one is personal checks, another is automatic payments (Like to my credit card) and one, the one with the most entries, is what I by from day to day and put on my debit card. Well, in the daily purchases entry, there is a bill that I cannot seem to remember, for $30. The biller, has a random sounding name, and a phone number next to it. I decided to call the phone number.

They pick up, and I become utterly horrified when I hear the gym pickup. I immediatly check my bank account's backlogs. They had been charging, WITHOUT MY CONSENT, my account, for over a YEAR after my account should have been expired. $400, GONE. When I asked, nicely, if they could cancel my membership... they said, "Sure, just walk in and cancel."

Ouch.

Before anyone asks why I didn't see the debit sooner, you have to keep in mind that sorting through the purchases I make monthly isn't easy, and I don't audit it often, since it's mostly stuff I'm buying for small amounts, like starbucks.

Now, they didn't seem to understand that I didn't live there anymore, I could not walk in. In a stupor, they refer me to their corporate headquarters (still hundreds of miles away from me), who also tried to say the same thing. While I moan and yell at them, to no avail, they said I could either walk in, or send it via CERTIFIED (meaning $2 or $3) MAIL. Not even normal mail would work! Not ONLY THAT - there is MORE! I was VERY ticked at finding out the contract allowed them to automatically renew my membership. I thought paying by a check was the same as cash - no more cash, no more membership, as it should have EXPIRED! Nope, they took the routing and bank account numbers.

More? Yeah. They said that after they receive a cancellation request, they will take an additional TWO months of fees! WHY? I wasn't cancelling early, I wasn't using thier services, and they had charged me double what I had ever agreed upon. I think it was a "cancellation fee." I cant remember exactly, but this was the last straw.

I proceeded to "talk" until they said I should speak with the CEO/Corporate OWNER, and see if he would be more sympathtic. Not sure if I got to speak WITH him, but I did talk with a secretary. When all was said and done, I ended up having to find an online service where I could write a letter, sign it, and send it online via certified mail. As the company said they were "sympathetic" - they only charged me ONE additional month instead of 2.

Want to know the ridiculous part of all of this though? When I moved here, I told the local gym I signed up with the exact same story. The gym is just owned by a sole person, it's his business, and he doesn't own anything other than that one location. Told him I would only join if he promised that they would only charge for what I agreed to pay. I wanted a ONE year contract, and that was all. I'd renew if I wanted to at a later date.

Well, I stopped going to that gym locally after my contract was supposed to end. I waited a couple months because I wasn't sure when payments were supposed to stop exactly, because the months I joined were a bit complicated... but anyways, the point is: I had to write another letter.

At least this time it wasn't certified.

I hate gym contracts.

Taxes

2008-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

I was once studying to be an accountant.

I made the horrible mistake of doing the tax classes first, one right after another.

Now, I can't remember any of what I learned. But thats because it's impossible to cram that much information so quickly.

But...

As I received my W-2's, I looked over my payments and taxes taken, did a quick calculation, and just about cried realizing I had taken too many deductions and would have to pay more than I ever had before.

I, like most others, whipped out a calculator and the newest tax rates to check, but I was still just not able to get it right, something was missing.

Later on, I get out the forms, and start doing the taxes. When it was all done? I owed only a TENTH of what I thought I would - turns out I was taking the right deductions after all!

And to think I wanted to be an accountant!

Don't we all have a story like this? Now that our employers have handed out the forms, I imagine many people are either rejoicing or crying... or a nice combination of both. Any experiences, I wonder?

Dragons speak via youtube!?!

2008-01-23T06:35:00.000-08:00

I went and used Usagi as an example of how to use Dragon Naturallyspeaking 9.5.
The program is fun.

Update: As of 01/27/2008, my user files are "too large" at 200 megabytes for me to use my profile. I have to make a new one in order to keep using DNS 9.5. I'm going to look around eventually and see if this is a fixable problem, or just crappy design. I can't believe that after only a couple weeks of use that happened. Did I train too many words?

IP Addresses Are Personal Data

2008-01-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

IP Addresses Are Personal Data, E.U. Regulator Says - washingtonpost.com

A few years ago, I would have agreed. But nowadays, even an email address is enough to track down a live person. An IP is recorded EVERY time ANYONE on the internet goes to a website. Private? I wish. I really do.

We are Brothers Forever Lyrics

2008-01-19T21:20:00.001-08:00

We are Brothers Forever
a.k.a.
Brothers and Sisters Forever

Americal Idol, Season 7, Episode 2, Version, Song Lyrics as sung by,
Renaldo Lapuz, Age 44, From Reno, Nevada, USA
with additional lyric (in your heart) added by Randy Jackson

Unofficial, all credit goes to Mr. Lapuz for his epic work. We are in awe, and strive to spead his message.

Lyrics, as interpreted and edited for consistency and quality (a paper version, so to speak) by Kelin:

I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like
We're brothers till the end of time
Together and forever, till the end of time

I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like
We're brothers till the end of time
Together or not you're always in my heart
You hurt your feelings, and you will reign no more

I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like
We're brothers till the end of time
Together or not you're always in my heart
You hurt your feelings, and you will reign no more

I love you brother

I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like
We're brothers till the end of time
Together or not, you're always in my heart
You hurt your feelings, and you will reign no more

I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like
We're brothers till the end of time
Together or not, you're always in my heart
You hurt your feelings, and you will reign no more

Because,
I am your brother, your best friend forever
Singing the songs, the music that you like (In your heart)
We're brothers till the end of time
Together and forever, till the end of time
You hurt your feelings, and you will reign no more

The greatest follow-up

2008-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have nothing to say. During those times, something of interest pops up, and then I have something to say again. This is one of those times. Its irony upon irony, which is actually one of my favorite things.

Obviously, only about 6 people have probably read what I have wrote (Analytics, how you pain me so!), so I know my rank in the wired world is as low as well... sure I know how to get number 3 on google with certain keywords (its not that hard to do, really, just think like a marketer), but if I cared about money, I'd be seriously writing a book right now. Thats a lie, since I'm really just lazy and too busy with real work.

But during a random kind of search, things ended up linking together.

When browsing, we always say, "just google it", when there is something we need. I spend literally half my day googleing stuff (sorry competitors, but its more convenient for work purposes). Well, what about yahooed? Another bit of irony. Googleing something about yahooing something. That question led to:

http://doughboy.wordpress.com/2006/12/22/is-yahooed-a-word/

Ironically enough, this is one of the guys at dealnews, who I just mentioned a couple days ago. Irony IS my favorite word after all. Be it fate? Or is it that fourth carls jr six dollar burger that I got for free by buying 2 at regular price causing a small cosmic pull around me, drawing me into a center of networked items? No wait, its work. I call the entire country daily. Thats it! My network gets larger by the day! Even if I dont talk to people more than once in their life... heh. The burgers through it over the edge. Thats it, time for a diet. Soon enough, a small singularity will form.

Anyways, the web guy has good ramblings. PHP and MySQL are apparently what its about, but he also speaks on football and more. I'm technical, but not a networking person, but being in a highly networked house (dont worry, less than 20 computers total in this tiny house...), I cant help but be influenced by the influences of database discussions. Fortunately, I've ignored them, but I cant help but be struck by the irony of this entire thing. It would be one thing if I found it on my own, but only a couple days after mentioning the site? The burgers are evil, evil I say.

Devour them! This coupon, oh what a mistake. A jpg, easily saveable, and it doesnt expire for a year? El oh el.

http://www.carlsjr.com/coupon/burgerslayer.jpg

Funny enough though, the local carl's jr has started taking about 5 minutes staring at the coupon... every time... to make sure its real or something... I get the feeling that they aren't all THAT happy to be getting my business... since I only order a couple of those and nothing else. Much profit there? Who knows? Its fast food, its overpriced anyways.

The non-metal razor

2008-01-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

Ouch.

As I arrived at home, I encountered the strangest mix apology and anger. She was half crying, yet seemingly anger. Or that could have been just stifling the pain. But still... well, hear it for yourself, "I'm sorry I broke your cup, but I just cut my finger on YOUR broken CUP." It was a ceramic mug from World Market, easily replaceable, but it broke into three pieces... 2 very large ones, and a smaller piece. Well, turns out, that tiny little piece is able to make a very clean, very deep, and very painful cut. I've never seen ceramic look like a razor, until earlier. Looks like it really hurt. But in 6 hours it was almost unnoticeable. It was a really, really clean cut, so it healed quickly. Well, the visible portions. It may have been down to the bone.

Don't break ceramic. It hurts.

Find better prices online

2008-01-12T23:44:00.000-08:00

Top site of interest: Dealnews.

One of the best sites for saving money on anything. You can save money on food, computer items, bedding, or just get a discount in general at a store.

It's already paid for a couple dinners at half price for me. Great site. Do not pass it by!

Waking up early isn't always the best thing

2008-01-12T14:22:00.001-08:00

For once, I went to work early. On the way, I stopped at the local convenience store. I got a couple of my favorite things. First was a biscuit with cheese, egg, and bacon. The other item was a cappuccino. I paid, got in the car, and put the cappuccino in the drink holder. It is one of those shallow drink holders, so I paid extra attention to my driving to make sure it didn't get spilled. It works, for about three-fourths of the way to work. Sure enough, it ends up spilling, falling backwards into the rear seat. So my pleasure for the day was, obviously, short-lived.

As I am sitting at work, the people next to me are ordering food. I don't pay too much attention to it, until 30 minutes later when it turns out they were not going to get food, but instead had been ordering from Starbucks. Me, with the gift card, was rather sad.

But all is said and done though, it was actually quite a good day. We only had to work for three hours, because there wasn't that much work to do. So I took advantage of this time, and went to Starbucks, and got myself another sandwich with an even better drink. So, you ask, how did I avoid spilling this drink? I buckled it in. Well, to be exact, I put the drink in the seat, surrounded it with a very large jacket, and buckled them all securely in the passenger seat. Why I did not think of this in the morning, eludes me. Oh, I know. I was cold.

The moral of the other day's lesson: Waking up early isn't always rewarding, but getting off work early does have its benefits.

On a side note, I'm having much more fun writing now. This entire thing was written using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.5. I'm having a lot of fun with this. Once you start using it, it's incredibly accurate. I think I'll actually be up to writing large amounts of stuff in a short while. Even editing is easy.

Random short story off the top of the head without any thought in it

2008-01-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

The last time he had taken a step outside, the light stung worse than any prick. This time, he stood there, fully engulfed by the natural world. Thin, pale, with broken soles, and in a dirty old shirt, these few first steps were no longer the dreaded experience he had expected them to be. His shoes weren't expecting to have so much use again after so long, and make a cracking sound with each step. Holding one hand over his eyes, he slowly raised his head upwards, to view the vast blue sky. Clear, without a cloud in sight, a perfect day.
He had forced himself these past two years to live as a lone recluse, relying on the phone and the internet for basic sustenance. Forcing himself to be even more alone than he felt, that was only just in his mind. With the death of his Patricia, life had stopped. The job which had been so good to him was no longer worthwhile. The world and all it's events, they did not matter. Alone, cold inside, he stopped what rationality he had left, and resigned to the overwhelming proof of his depression.
Joe had stopped by not just a few times the first couple months. Again and again he would say that it is possible to move on, to overcome this pain. It didn't matter though. Nothing would matter, since no one was left to care. The empty shell just nodded at the words without a sound, and played out the same actions as always. Not once, in all the times that it happened, did Joe show the tears he had as he walked back to his car. They wouldn't have been noticed anyways. Even if they were, they wouldn't be any more effective than the words.
But here he was, ragged and torn in spirit and body, walking outside, on his own. All alone in a vast world of light, wind, and sound. He stopped a few paces out on the concrete. He raised the hand again, and looked up at the still clear sky. Across the street, the children had stopped playing in their tiny pool. Two boys and a younger girl, they stood and stared. They had only lived there a year, and didn't know anyone lived in the quiet house across the street. In only another moment, the younger of the boys ran inside his house.
Out came a man, tall and large, being led by a small hand in his. The screen slamming shut behind him, he let go of the boy's hand. Looking up, he blinked a few times, adjusting to the piercing light. His focus returning to him, he noticed a change in the scenery. Bringing a hand up to shield the light out, his view was clear. Mouth gaping, he pointed across the street, then proceeded to run back inside the house, much the same way as the boy had done prior.
Nothing changed for a while. Nothing came out of the house, the children stopped staring, and the sunlight was still stinging the man standing a few paces out on the concrete. Looking to the left, and then to the right, the grass in the yard was uneven and wild. The questions that should have come up, but didn't, were whether the yard had been tended to at all in the past couple years, and why were there no weeds.
It was heard, closing in from a distance. The sound of the engine became louder as Joe's truck barreled it's way down the street. The car visibly lunged when the full pressure of the brakes forced it to a sharp stop, but it was not enough to overcome the grip of the tires. The door was opened and shut with practically no time between the two events, with Joe in a frantic rush to get out of the vehicle. Standing straight, he saw what the man across the street told him on the phone. There, standing in stale clothing, with a thin face and unkempt hair, was Brian, out of his house for the first time in two years. Two years since the death of his only love. Two years since the downfall of someone who was once truly great.
Unable to contain himself, Joe, for the first time, cried while facing Brian, walking closer to him instead of farther, with a look that had been saved for this occasion only. Slowly, Brian's discovered his own thoughts once again, and came in full control of his senses in time to notice that he was being hugged. He looked down, as his shirt absorbed the running tears. Still unable to find his emotions, he wondered what he should say. Deep in the back of his mind, a voice roused itself from a long slumber. It made it's way though him, invading his limbs one by one, and then rushing to his mouth. Unsure of even his own words, only by instinct remembering human interaction, he spoke the only words which would convey every thought he knew he would eventually have.
"I've come back."

Book intro paragraph.

2007-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

"This will be the beginning of the future for mankind."

Those are the words that echo in my mind today. As the old documentary reels to a finish, I sit back and wonder if the creators of this piece had any idea what was in store for the future. I imagine, that in the past, they thought this would be the greatest boom mankind had ever seen. I suppose it was, for a while. Enough sentimentality, the thoughts are something I do not want to deal with. I look out the window of the light train, watching the terrain pass below. I'm the only person on this quick and small train. The train is old, yet it looks pristine. Thats to be expected nowadays, with technology the way it is. Technology... I need to sort my thoughts on this first. Thats what began this mess, the entirety of it. It all started way back in 2072. No, wait, I'm wrong. It was 2032 when the events were truly put into motion.

There with you

2007-09-20T09:21:00.001-07:00

Sent flying down the road as the wind rips by

Foward ever moving in the dimly lit sky

Beaming bright and large and on the side

Disasterous turn awaits an unseen eye

Passed through the limit in a partial curve

Leaned over, danger has passed

Beating in unison, thrilled beyond compare

Not a bit at the danger

Just the experience, of being there.

Usagi

2007-09-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

In a place long, long ago
In a time far, far away
There lived a bunny, Usagi-chan

Usagi-chan lived high and low
Wandering the flat plane around
That it did

When it happened upon a fox
Gold and Green and Blue
With three tails in a respective hue

Good evening said the bunny
Ha do ya do said the fox
As the sun burned overhead

When down the last of
the hilly hills they skidded
Time stood at a pop

Delicious said the bunny
In response to the fox
The ice continued to drop

When the day was peaked
The bunny and fox did part
To be seen again

The day drew near
as the bunny fashioned it's clothes
The moon showed its blessing

Silently, the bunny did wail
Lonely, in peace it felt respite
The looming carrier of more to come.

and so asked. the bunny did
say. To time that is now
confusion less another day

2007-09-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

Checking to see how this works =)

A glimpse into the future.

2007-08-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

A scene out of the life of me and my sister, all happening in the course of a single minute, all happening some 40 and some number more years from now.

"Nee-chan, nee-chan, doku?" The old man's crinkled voice sounded. He repeated the phrase over and over while wandering around the house he lived in. He was about 76, about five foot eight, with old red hair. It was red on the left and half the right side, with the upper right quarter a long streak of dark white. It's short and brushed slightly forward. He stands erect, but as he wanders around he faces downward more than other people, staring at the floor about 10 feet in front of him. "I told you not to call me that!" The 73 year old sister snaps in retort. "Demo, nee-chan, meine keyboard is covered miza ga.""Your not getting any less confusing you know." The woman, now walking away, glanced once only to see a smile on the man's face before turning around and going back into the other room."Oh come on, let this old fool have some fun. In all seriousness, do you know where the napkins are?" The man, seeming like he has just gone from pure senility to fully sensible, asks this seriously."I used them all." No further explaination was going to come from her, so he resigned himself to finding a towel to clean the water that was spilled on the glass topped desk. Before he could say another word, a thunderous shriek came from the old woman in the other room, which, the discerning ear would be able to tell, was a sentance saying, "and you better stop talking that nonsense foreign language stuff that you really dont know!" That, of course, was a mistake. For the old man had gone deaf in his left ear, and the womans rate of speech had not declined once since youth. He heard the shriek, and hobble-ran to the living room from where he was as slowly as he could. With a look of care that was obviously forced, he asks, "What?" The woman moves not an inch for a minute, as she was watching the television, until she looks slightly to her left once a commercial came on. "What are you standing there for? Stop looking at me." Thus he did just such.

Makes the world go round.

2007-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Coffee that is.

As I sit and sip, the giant fatigue that plagues my mind in the early morning completely goes away, as I remember that there was a point in life where I was taking a full dose of caffiene every morning in order to be productive at work.

And oh, how much more productive we are when the miracle drug makes its presense known. Caffiene is absorbed quickly, from the way it feels I only consider alchohol to be quicker. Well, thats a fact, but its besides the point.

I normally suffer through my day, slowly waking up till 12, at which point lunch is over and only 3 hours of work is left at the company. Slow down around 2 pm, since at that point doing anything gets very tedious - workflow changes midday, due to the nature of the requests we get.

After a cup of - surprise is coming - instant brew K-Cup coffee that tasted great - SURPRISE - I'm feeling entirely different. Happy, willing to work, WANTING to work. Wow. Just wow. I need to buy energy drinks by the case. The best energy drinks are at T-Nation. Spike, zero calorie, pure power. Dont let the look of the site fool you, they mean serious business. Spike + Alpha Male make men what they are supposed to be, insane. Creative as well. For me it means I think very clearly, and faster than normal. Which in and of itself is pretty darn quick, but not on a messed up sleeping schedule. Which for some reason, I can't seem to normalize on the weekends. The thought on friday night of, "I dont have to wake up at 5am, lets stay up till 1am," is just too tempting. Sure, drowsiness sets in, and contacts get dry signaling that sleep should come soon, but for some reason that doesn't seem to influence how early sleep comes. I think the real reason why I don't catch up on sleep on the weekends, is because they are "fully free" days. Days where every second that you spend on a weekend is fully non-commital. There is nothing else you HAVE to do, so do as much as you possibly can of what you WANT to do. It's an insane concept that I've made as a habit, dropped as a habit, and then picked up again.

As I read on the news that americas caffiene addition isn't lessoning, I somehow feel happy that we know we are dependent on the worlds most popular drug, even if we are killing ourselves in terms of adrenal fatigue. Actually, thats why I spend every other couple of months drinking only tea and having very low amounts of daily caffiene. The other months of constant epinephrine make up for the lack of excessive energy in the off months. Health, after all, is important in all aspects.

I did think of another thing. I had thought, what am I really writing for? A personal life story? No. Commentary on a particular subject? Nope. Ranting and raving about the world? Suprisingly enough, no. It's really just my commentary on life, observations, discussions with myself that I have to put in print about what matters at this moment. It's not neccessarily insightful, or interesting, but for me, it feels relatable. I'd like something that people can relate to. Maybe not in actual expereince, but in the overall feeling of, "I know what you mean."

New fads:

2007-07-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Health food to be marked "China Free."

Wine instead of toothpaste.

Eliminating fat... and then eliminating fat!

Cats really do have nine lives! Get yours today, will go 18 days without food or water!

Regret

2007-07-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Regret
- is an intelligent (and/or emotional) dislike for personal past acts and behaviors.

A simple thing, that we experience almost everyday. Maybe you regret not getting up early enough. Maybe, you regret that you passed on a bet you could have won. Or even, you regret the heartache of what is/was/could have been love. Any way you look at it, we all live with regrets, whether small or large. Some things we miss over, other things we are severely distraught by.

But let me ask you, the audience. Think about your worst regret. I'm sure you probably have at least one thing you wish didn't happen the way it did. After all, life isn't perfect. Now, lets analyze it. How fully do you encompass that regret with the actual feeling of regret? Of course, you regret this or that, but think about it. What is a full, encompassing, complete regret?

I describe it in a certain way. Start from the trigger action. The action that would be the initial path that would lead to what happened. Then, the actions, each and every one that continued. Each and every one could have been done differently. Something different could have been said at one moment, that would have changed everything. An action could have been delayed or sped up by a small amount, that would change everything. Or maybe even, something had been done even long before the trigger action, that would play a part in the event to come, even though on its own it would have had absolutely no effect whatsoever. After the initial trigger, then is the path that is followed. What things could have been changed, been said, that would have been better. Maybe there was a simple decision, but instead of taking the obvious right answer, the wrong one was taken in the hopes that nothing will go wrong. Then all leads to the event. How many individual regrets? First is the entirety of said event. Then is the way the event was done, or actually just not done correctly. Thats right, not just a regret for the event itself, but assuming that it would happen again, and still be regretted, then how would the actual event have been changed to change what would have been regretted? That, in it's own right, may have caused even more regrets. Maybe one of those is even desired over the current outcome. Finally is the completion, the look back, the realization, and the pain. Just how many issues were in the one, all encompassing regret? More than a single thought could contain.

That, dear friends, is what it means to truly regret.

Do you remember

2007-06-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

Where did I leave my keys? When was that appointment? What appointment? Who called earlier? When is her birthday? What time is that show on? How many gallons were used? How many sneezes was that?

Did I make the time to write that person? How important is it to them that I do? Can't it wait, just another day?

You, yes this is for you. Ask. Just ask. Because really, there's a pretty large effect, even if I don't tell you.