Category: Technology & Entertainment

I write about a lot of stuff on here but I am not sure I’ve ever talked about music. My tastes have an unusually broad range from Classical to Heavy Metal and just about everything in between. Yes, even Country. That having been said, one of my favorite genres includes bands like Creed, Nickelback, Breaking Benjamin, Fuel, and Crossfade.

My sister in law introduced me to a new (to me) band back in early summer that fits well inside that group. I had some of their music saved on my desktop but hadn’t imported them into iTunes. During a recent (out of season) spring cleaning I ran across the albums, imported them into iTunes, and have been enjoying them all day.

Curly Sue by Takida

This is the song of theirs I heard first and is still my favorite. Don’t try to find them in the iTunes store. They are a Swedish band and they aren’t on there. If you’re interested, leave me a comment and I’ll post more samples. Until then, enjoy.

Happy Friday!

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about my favorite blogs. While that list stays pretty consistent I have to share a blog I recently discovered that has really blown me away. The blog is written by Seth Godin. This guys has written twelve books. All of which went onto become best sellers. I haven’t read a single one but plan to. For right now I am complely content slash filled slash charged by just reading the blog posts.

Do you actually care about privacy? This is one that’s timely and appropriate the this audience. It’s about our true expectations in regards to online privacy versus being surprised.

All of his posts are short and concise, yet dense. Here are a few other posts I’d might suggest starting off with to get a taste but these spoke to me.

The Corporate Conscience. “There isn’t one. Corporations don’t have a conscience, people do. That means that every time you say, “It’s just my job,” or “My department has a policy,” or “All I do is work here,” what you’ve done is abdicated responsibility–to no one.”

Dude.

Monitoring Your Internal Monologue. At the end of third paragraph Seth writes, “Theologians wrestle with this dilemma all the time. How can you study an idea or a trend or a belief system if you also accept it as a universal, unquestionable fact? …the smart marketer (my note: you can substitute the word “marketer” with “human being” ) throws away bias and stops cheering for one outcome over another and instead quietly takes notes on herself.”

Come on.

Little lies and small promises. “‘Your call is very important to us,’ is not a true statement… The truth is self-evident. The worst kind of little lies are the ones you make to yourself. Once you’re willing to lie to yourself, you’re also willing to cheat at golf, and after that, it’s all downhill.”

Must read stuff.

Happy Thursday!

First of all, what is a timesuck? Urban Dictionary does a nice job with that: “Something that’s engrossing and addictive, but that keeps you from doing things that are actually important, like earning a living, or eating meals…” Yeah, that sounds about right. Little to no real benefit. Yet for whatever reason we just can’t quite seem to put them down. Here are three examples of timesucks I’ve kicked to the curb so far this year.

Farmville. I’m not alone on this one. This I know. Okay, people. You know who you are. You start each and every morning like your great great grandfather probably did, just instead of waking at the break of dawn and getting on your tractor to harvest your crops, plant your fields, and milk the cows, you login to your computer. I once spent three hours (on my day off) rearranging my farm. It was then I knew it was time to quit. (Note: There are approx 60 million users globally.)

Mafia Wars. Weekdays, weekends, and holidays alike. It’s as much a part of your morning routine as breakfast (except every once in a while you might skip breakfast). What’s the goal here? To get to Level 500? To amass a huge Mafia Family and whack other families? Sounds a little sick, not to mention pointless, right? (Note: There are approx 45 million active monthly users.)

Video Games. There seems to be a trend here. Games. It probably matters even more if the games aren’t silly like Fish-Town or Cafe-Ville. High end video games can be even more addictive. While it may be nice to unwind by spending some time in the evening, or weekend mornings, blasting away at aliens, when the games keep you up at night, and begin to consume hours and hours? Timesuck. (Note: Metrics 2.0 reported that “With nearly 8 in 10 American youth (81%) playing video games at least one time per month, including 94% of all boys playing, this certainly raises concerns about video game addiction.”)

Now that you can identify a timesuck (Seek), how about Destroy? In the first two examples, my first step was to, pay attention now, here’s the key… make the decision. Genius in its simplicity. With the decision made, my second step was to block the application. Once that was done, I was home free! And I do mean free. There was a tangible sense of having shed a bad habit. It was instant. So, how about the video games? That was a little bit more tricky. I’ve had to do without my game console for a few months now. It made the decision for me when it broke. I suppose that I have always have been more of a cold turkey kind of guy.

What about you? What are some of your timesucks? Will any of them show up on your list of New Year’s Resolutions this year? First Seek, then Destroy. Timesucks beware.

Happy Tuesday!

Dear Microsoft:

Let me start this letter off by saying that I am by no means a Microsoft hater. I am (still) an especially big fan of your XBox Consoles. I bought the original, owned the 360, and will no doubt buy whatever you come out with next. My wife and I are XBox 360 Live Gold Members for crying out loud. However, I do have a suggestion; a bone to pick, if you will, in regards to a recent in my opinion avoidable experience. Allow me to describe.

After almost two years, our XBox 360 finally gave into what you call the Red Ring of Death. Heartbroken at first, some friends provided information on how to handle the situation. To my utter joy, when I called your support, they reassured me that my console was still covered under an extended warranty. The process was simple. More or less I take the console, put it in a box, affix the UPS shipping sticker you provided (you even provided me with free shipping!), and drop it off at UPS. The expectations were set and they were high! Two to three weeks later I would receive my repaired device.

As you know, that is not what happened. After three weeks, you returned my console to me in the same condition I sent it to you in. Broken. The accompanying letter you sent said the reason was that the console had been tampered with. Huhh? After a few phone calls over multiple days, several escalations, and a couple hours total on the telephone, we finally got to the bottom of what the “tampering” was all about. Stay with me Microsoft. This is where it gets weird.

As you can see, there are two laser etched serial numbers on the back of the console. As you can see above, they both match. However, it turns out that there is a third serial number you’ve decided to locate underneath a trapped door on the front of the console. As you are aware, it’s a sticker. Yet, in my case, the number on the sticker doesn’t match the other two.

Do you find anything about this a little off? First, why do you need three serial numbers? Second, why would you go to the trouble of ensuring the first two serial numbers are tamper proof and then make the third a STICKER? On top of that, when I talked to one of the your call center managers, he actually admitted you receive calls on this same issue all the time. Crazy amounts. Yet, you have denied the possibility this mixup could have happened on the assembly line during manufacturing or at inspection. You blamed me. You blamed the retailer. I actually had one of you suggest it might have been someone who snuck into my house and did it. You don’t know me very well, but believe me, that’s where I just about lost it.

Bottom line, this issue is still open; however, at this point you’ve seen fit to void my warranty. You win for now. I cave and will pay the $99.99 charge to have my XBox repaired out of warranty (which according to you means you’ll actually be sending me a refurbished model to replace my busted one). In the end, I say Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware. You’d better believe when I receive my refurbished console that I will check the box to ensure all the serial numbers match.

Oh So Sincerely,

Owen

During my recent (and ongoing) “blog overhaul” I added a new “Blogs I Follow” section in the right column. These are blogs I read on a regular basis. Whilst there are others (honorable mention names a few), these I try and read every day, or at least as often as they post new content. Turns out it’s a pretty good mix of family, friends, and industry heros. I thought I might briefly explain why, and a little bit about the content.

(1) The Four Hour Workweek Blog – First blog I read on the regular. I am a big fan of GTD but in my opinion Timothy Ferris wrote the book on productivity and lifestyle design. My dad once said, that within any book (in this case blog, like this), there are suggestions you can take and implement, and those you won’t. For every one thing in this book that can, I will admit, for me, there are nine I won’t. That 10%, however? Potentially life changing. Always inspiring and educational.

(2) IckMusic – A good friend and business associate’s music blog. I’d never read a music blog on the regular before, but this guy’s passion, and knowledge about certain niche genres, is what keeps me coming back for more. I also occasionally get to tag along and shoot concerts and events with the publisher and primary writer.

(3) Jasmine Star – A household name in wedding photography. Her commitment to her online community is inspiring.

(4) No Shoe Left Behind – Allison is a friend of mine from Western Kentucky University. She writes a column for a local paper where she lives. After reading a few of her posts, I was inspired to begin writing again. Her tales of adventure, stories from the past and present, are a real treat.

(5) Tofurious – This is the newest blog on my list. I’m still getting a feel for the author’s style but for as a self proclaimed Wedding and Marketing Consultant, from what I’ve read so far, it contains outstanding content for the would be photographer.

Honorable Mentions include: My Wife’s Blog, Howland Studios, Chase Jarvis, and Jeremy Cowart.

I hope you enjoy the new theme and if you find even one more good blog to read from this post then I feel like I’ve contributed. If you already read one, drop me a note and tell me we have that in common.

Happy Tuesday!