Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog - Advice from 256 year old man

It's not certain whether Li Ching-Yun actually lived to be that old but his advice is useful: "Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog."

Here is the excerpt from the Time magazine article from 1933:

In the province of Szechwan in China lived until last week Li Ching-yun. In China where Age means something he was a great man. By his own story he was born in 1736, had lived 197 years. By the time he was ten years old he had traveled in Kansu, Shansi, Tibet, Annam, Siam and Manchuria gathering herbs. He continued to gather herbs for the rest of his first 100 years. He lived on herbs and plenty of rice wine. When asked for his secret of long life. Li Ching-yun gave it readily: "Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog." The "Scholar War Lord" Wu Pei-fu. not satisfied with this formula, took Li into his home and was lectured on "how to get the most out of each century" by maintaining "inward calm." Some said he had buried 23 wives, was living with his 24th. a woman of 60, had descendants of eleven generations. The fingernails of his venerable right hand were six inches long. Yet to skeptical Western eyes he looked much like any Chinese 60-year-old. In 1930 Professor Wu Chung-chieh, dean of the department of education at Chengtu University, found records that the Imperial Chinese Government had congratulated one Li Ching-yun in 1827 on his birthday. The birthday was his 150th, making the man who died last week—if it was the same Li Ching-yun, and respectful Chinese preferred to think so—a 256-year-old.

Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog - TIME

Animoto Rocks!

Here is my first test with it and it's pretty freaking cool.

Try it: www.animoto.com

flickrvision

This interesting to watch but don't stare at it too long. It can be a time killer if you let it.

flickrvision

This American Life Promo #2: First TV Season on DVD

If you've never heard this show then find an hour where you're driving or walking the dog and listen to it. It's a great show that tells real stories of different people. I only discovered it recently but I'm already hooked. Check it out online or through iTunes:

Anne Lamott: Put the puppy back on the paper | 43 Folders

Merlin Mann mentioned this in one his podcasts and since then it's been a helpful reminder that I've adopted as well. So in my office (@ home currently), I have this reminder posted to the wall. My wife asked me the other day what it meant because she was bothered by it.

The idea is to gently remind yourself to get your focus back. I can easily let my mind wander at the slightest distraction. So this tip is very useful for me when my focus needs to be readjusted:

Next time you start to beat yourself up for all the things that aren’t working out or all the ways you’re falling short in your own eyes, try thinking about that puppy and what might be the best way to guide it back to the paper.

Anne Lamott also has the concept of the "shitty first draft" (sfd). This a great starting point for just about any project or post. Start by dumping some thoughts/ideas on paper or index card. Then move on to the second draft, third, etc. It's a way to get you to do some kind of action on whatever needs to get done. And action is really what it's about.

G.I. Joe always said that knowing is half the battle. As a kid it made me wonder, "Wtf is the other half?"

It's the doing.

Anne Lamott: Put the puppy back on the paper | 43 Folders

Another name

The thing that has your attention is what you're truly focused on. Well lately I've been focused on GTD/self improvement things. So to keep my attention focused on keeping with these positive changes, I've changed the name of this blog to Peaceful Warrior. This concept comes from the book "The Four Agreements". It's a Toltec way of life/thinking which sounds very interesting as a life philosophy. The warrior part refers to the war of the individual mind rather than a soldier. Anyways, I like the concept so I'll give it my best effort.

This American Life - Great Radio Show

This is a great show with humor, heart and some insight. It's great to listen to the different stories through my iPod. Here is a brief description of the show:

If you've never heard This American Life, our staff's favorite shows page provides a great introduction to what we do. You might want to start there. After a few episodes, we're sure you'll figure it out. Or, if you're looking for a written introduction, here goes:
One of our problems from the start has been that when we try to describe This American Life in a sentence or two, it just sounds awful. For instance: each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme. That doesn't sound like something we'd want to listen to on the radio, and it's our show.
So usually we just say what we're not. We're not a news show or a talk show or a call-in show. We're not really formatted like other radio shows at all.

This American Life - About Our Radio Show

Humanity Lobotomy - Second Draft

Net Neutrality sucks! This video does a good job of explainining why.

Parenting tips roundup

There's no shortage of lists on the net and rather than talking about all the different posts I'll list the links and the concise version of the "advice". Most of which is common advice but still good to remember:

How to be a Great Dad - 12 Awesome Tips | Zen Habits

Put their interests first, always.

Protect them.

Spend your spare time with them. --The thing kids want most from their dads is their time.

Give them hugs.

Play with them.  See 100 Ways to Have Fun with Your Kids for Free or Cheap.

Do the “mom” stuff. changing diapers, feeding, bathing, rocking them to sleep in the middle of the night.

Read to them. This is one of the most important things you can do for your child. See the Best All-Time Children’s Books.

Stand by mom. Don’t contradict their mother in front of them, don’t fight with her in front of them, and most definitely don’t ever abuse her. 

Teach them self-esteem. Maybe this should be No. 1.Praise and encourage, don’t reprimand and discourage.

Teach them about finances.

Be good to yourself. You need to take care of yourself, give yourself some alone time, and some time with your buddies, also eat healthy, exercise.

Be good to the mom. Take her to dinner, give her a massage, do chores around the house for her, give her some time alone and babysit while she goes out, show affection to her, give her little surprises. Because when mom’s happy, the kids are happy. And dad will be happy too!

How to Raise Wonderful Kids - 15 Fantastic Tips to Shine as a Parent

Do the following:

Let your family be one of your top priorities.

Listen to them.

Be the life coach of your kids.

Expose them to art and wonder.

Teach them the value of people.

Teach them how to save.

Reward them.

Teach them how to handle disappointments.

Avoid the following:

Don’t teach them your limitations.

Don’t force them.

Don’t fight or argue in front of them.

Don’t act cheap.

Don’t lose patience.

Tony Robbins motivates you in 20 minutes: TEDTalks

I've never heard him talk before but Tony Robbins in this talk is very good. He's got some great points that make you think about your life. I recommend checking out the 20 minute video.

Early Riser Discipline

I've read a lot of the posts about becoming an early riser. Unfortunately they all failed for me. Not because they're bad but I think it takes discipline. Improving my discipline is my next goal...

From the following post it seems I should focus on the goal more than the art: Discipline is an illusion; Motivate yourself instead

if you think you don’t have discipline, you don’t need it. What you need is to commit to your goal or habit and fully motivate yourself.

I'll try these tips and see how it works out. I started using Joe's Goals again with modified goals and using the logbook too. I expect I'll definitely see improvements in the next few weeks.

YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog » The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Starting A Business

Sounds like good tips I'll have to remember someday when I start a business.

1) Not enough money.

The most common reason why new businesses shut down is that the owner runs out of money. Cash flow is critical to a startup business. You could be profitable and still have to close your doors because your customers are taking too long to pay you. Cash is king in a startup venture and you need to prepare for it.

One option is to make sure you have enough startup capital from your own investments or outsiders (bank loan, private investors, etc). A second option is to ease into the business so that you start doing it on a part-time basis until you know that it will make enough money to support you.

2) Not thinking survival.

Starting a business is all about survival. How do you stay around one more day so that you can learn more about your market and close new customers?

At the beginning stages of a business this may mean doing work that might not be completely what you want to do but it helps pay the bills. You need to do whatever it takes to survive and get through until the business can fully support yourself.

3) Losing momentum.

Many new entrepreneurs have ambitions to start a business so they create a website, try to make a few sales, go all out for a few months and then stop completely. Building a business is all about momentum. If you had 24 hours to spend on a business they would be put to far better use by spending one hour a day than for 24 hours straight.

It takes time to develop a new company and for people to react to what you have to offer. Never lose the momentum and even if your business is only a part time initiative for you at the moment, make sure that every day you are making progress of some sort to move your company forward.

4) Doing it all alone.

Nobody is perfect or has the skills to do everything themselves. You need to understand what it is that you bring to the table and what you need to surround yourself with. If, for example, you are very strong at inventing but don’t want to sell then you need to find a salesperson to help you.

You won’t succeed by forcing yourself to do things that you truly don’t enjoy and will never be good at. Know where you stand and what value you can offer. By getting people around you who complement your skills, you will be able to achieve your goals and have a lot more fun along the way!

5) Not hiring right away.

You should begin looking at who can be brought on board to help you from the first day of starting your company. There will be tasks in any business that you, as the owner, should not be focusing on if you hope to build any sort of sizable organization. Why are you doing admin work when you should be out closing customers, talking to the media, and landing new partnerships?

But I’m broke! How can I hire someone? Even if you have a $0 budget you can find people to work for you through high school and foreign student internship programs. Once you have a budget, you can bring people on board for as little as one hour a day (what I first did) and then increase their hours when you can afford it. You need to be spending your time working on the business and not in the business.

6. Doing it just for the money.

If you don’t truly love your business then you won’t be successful. If you read the stories of famous entrepreneurs and how they built their organizations you will find that it all comes down to the root of loving what you are doing.

Money is definitely important, as most companies are for-profit enterprises, but it will often take a long time to come and if you don’t truly enjoy your work then you won’t be able to convince yourself to keep going. You can only do something that you don’t really love for so long before you give up.

7. Getting to year 1, past year 2.

Many entrepreneurs have a hard time getting to the end of year one. Typically it’s because they started the business on a whim and got excited about an opportunity but didn’t do the proper research. These entrepreneurs usually run out of money and close down after a few months.

A second challenge is getting through year two. It usually takes three years of hard work to make a business. Year one is all about the excitement of getting started. You’re high on energy and ready to take on the world. In year two entrepreneurs often find themselves still not making much money and the startup excitement has faded. You’ll need to work your way through the downturn and know that the money is coming if you keep at it.

8. Don’t build around a customer.

The best way to make a lot of money quickly is to find a customer who has a problem and is willing to pay you to solve it - and then you go out and build the solution. Most entrepreneurs take the opposite mentality of “if I build it, then will come” only to realize that they’ve built it and nobody is coming. Instead of talking to customers as to why they’re not coming they decided to continue building and building. Soon they find out that they’ve invested years of work and nobody is interested in buying from them.

The companies with the highest failure rates are restaurants because they are usually built around an owner’s personal tastes. Meanwhile, the entrepreneurs with the lowest failure rates are lawyers and accountants because they are based around a service that we all need (whether we like it or not!) Talk to potential customers, see what they are interested in, identify who has money and what their pains are and then create your product / service around them.

9. Don’t seek mentors.

A great way to get a business going is to find out what other people have done to achieve success and implement those strategies into your own company. Find mentors who have knowledge of your industry and will give you time out of their day to help you.

You could set up a formal board of advisers and compensate people for their time but if you’re a startup you can play on the fact that most entrepreneurs are willing to help out a fellow business owner as a way to give back. If you show genuine appreciation and approach the right people, the advice you get will help make or break your company.

10. Don’t get involved in the community.
Tied in with not seeking mentors is not getting involved in the small business community. Countless opportunities are generated by connecting with other young entrepreneurs and finding out what they are up to and how you can help. You will get new business opportunities, partners, investment, media attention, ideas for productive tools to use, advice for your company, and many other resources that otherwise would take you years of trial and error to figure out (if you ever do at all).

A great community to be involved in, needless to say, is the Young Entrepreneur Forums, where there are over 32,500 entrepreneurs waiting to meet you and help you grow your business!

YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog » The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Starting A Business

Be Present | Zen Habits

This is a good article about focusing on the now. What's happening in the present moment. I'll be practicing this from now on. I don't want to set any timelines or deadlines but rather I want it to be a mantra that I can remember. Maybe I should get a tattoo that says "Be Present". Probably not but I'm going to try my best to remember this daily. Check out the article for more info:

The Magic of Flow
There’s a concept called Flow that’s been pretty popular among productivity circles in the last couple of years. I’m a big fan of it myself. In a nutshell, it’s basically losing yourself in whatever you’re doing — reaching that magical zone where you forget about the outside world and are completely doing what you’re doing, whether that’s writing or drawing or coding or whatever.

It’s a wonderfully productive zone to be in, and a state that also, incidentally, makes you happier. Productive and happier at the same time. Hard to beat that.

However, it can’t happen if you’re switching between tasks or thinking about the past or the future. It basically happens when you are in the present. So practicing being present will help you get to flow, which makes you happier and more productive. Best argument yet for being present, perhaps.

A Simple Guide to Being Present for the Overworked and Overwhelmed | Zen Habits

a day in the life of a cat and dog

This was posted on craigslist and I wanted to repost it here in case it is gone after a week. Very funny:

a day in the life of a cat and dog

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Reply to: pers-559791125@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-01, 4:34PM EST

The Dog's Diary
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

The Cat's Diary
Day 983 of my captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.
They dine l avishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.
The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an Attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities.
However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!
There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advanta ge.
Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and Snitches.
The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously Retarded.
The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the Guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an Elevated Cell, so he is safe.
For now.

a day in the life of a cat and dog

Matt's Idea Blog: How to read a lot of books in a short time

Stumbled on this article but since I have a ton of books also I'd like to plow through, I'll have to try this technique. It also got me thinking about the Aversion Therapy mentioned early in his post. I should make uncomfortable those things that I want to do less of like watching TV. It means giving up my comfortable recliner. Ah well someone on craigslist will enjoy it.

the most useful technique comes from Jason Womack [3], and synthesizes nicely the most common ideas. In a nutshell, he says he reads the book four times:

1. Table of contents, glossary, index.
2. Anything in bold, titles, and subtitles.
3. First line of every paragraph.
4. Entire book

Here's the twist: Steps 1-3 should only take about 10 minutes. To capture relevant information he uses a note-taking scheme involving putting dots in margins, and cross-referencing them in an index in the book's front. When done, he transfers them to a text file.

Matt's Idea Blog: How to read a lot of books in a short time

Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

I'll have to remember to teach this to my kids:

Rule #1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase "it's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule #1.

Rule #2. The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule #3. Sorry, you won't make $50,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule #4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he is not going ask you how feel about it.

Rule #5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule #6. It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule #7. Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule #8. Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Nor even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.

Rule #9. Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be perky or as polite as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule #10. Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule #11. Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Drunk History vol. 1 - Featuring Michael Cera

Freaking hilarious!

Fighting the good fight and meeting Negroponte

This is a great post which is funny and makes you think.

"Hi, I'm Nicholas Negroponte, and I founded the MIT Media Lab, ran it, and then quit so I could build laptops for every single child in the entire world."
--
Of course, I said the only thing I could: "Sheeeee-iiit, negro... ponte."
No, I wish. What I said was, "Oh my god! I know you! You're crazy!"
He looked just a little taken aback. I think I even heard him mutter, "Adumbasssezwhat?"

Call Me Fishmeal.: You've Gotta Fight for Your Right to... OLPC!

Registration-free commenting and piracy numbers

Couple of interesting articles. First on the defense of having a registration-free commenting system:

Further evidence that the Ni-Chan paradox still holds:

Registration keeps out good posters. People with lives will tend to ignore forums with a registration process.

Registration lets in bad posters. Children and Internet addicts tend to have free time to go register an account and check their e-mail for the confirmation message. They will generally make your forum a waste of bandwidth.

Registration attracts trolls. If someone is interested in destroying a forum, a registration process only adds to the excitement of a challenge. Trolls are not out to protect their own reputation. They seek to destroy other peoples' "reputation..

Anonymity counters vanity. On a forum where registration is required, or even where people give themselves names, a clique is developed of the elite users, and posts deal as much with who you are as what you are posting. On an anonymous forum, if you can't tell who posts what, logic will overrule vanity.

Updated data from Topix on registration-free commenting (Skrentablog)

And second, an old but interesting recount about software piracy for a company owner:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/?showtopic=34059

10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein at LifeTweak

Another inspirational and great list for the new year:

Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving - Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was an amazing physicist. He figured out so many universal principles and equations that he was way ahead of his fellow scientists at any point of time. But he is also remembered for another thing; a quality which made people call him a genius: his words. Prof. Einstein was a philosopher who clearly understood the laws of success and explained them like the way he did with his equations. Here is a list of 10 things out of the numerously wonderful things he had said; 10 golden lessons that you can put to use in your everyday life.

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Most people don’t try new things because of their fear of failure. Failing is not something to be afraid of. It is often the losers who learn more about winning than the winners. Our mistakes always give us opportunities to learn and grow.

2. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

30 years from now, you won’t possible remember what chapters you had in your science book; you’d only remember what you learn on your way. Life lessons stay with you forever. Real education starts from within.

3. I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

When you reflect on how far we humans have come from the prehistoric caves to mind-blowing technological advancements, you would feel the power of imagination. What we have now was built from the imagination of our forefathers. What we will have in future will be built from our imagination.

4. The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Creativity and uniqueness often depends on how well you hide your sources. You can get inspired and influenced by other great people; but when you are on stage with the whole world watching, you must become a unique, individual force that learnt different values from different people.

5. The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive. Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

If you think of all the top people in the world, they would have added something of value to the world. You must give in order to take. When your purpose is contributing or adding value to the world, you will be elevated to a higher level of living.

6. There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

When nothing is a miracle, you gain the power of doing anything you want and you have no limits. And when everything is a miracle, you stop by to appreciate even the smallest of beautiful things in the world. Thinking both ways will give you a productive and happy life.

7. When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.

Dreaming about all the great things that you can achieve is the key to a life filled with positivity. Let your imagination run amuck and create the world that you would wish to be in.

8. In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.

If you want to become a very successful entrepreneur, you must start a business right away. Wishing to become one, but fearing the consequences will not help. The same applies to everything – in order to win a game, one must above all play the game.

9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

Learn the rules of your game and start playing it best. Keep competing like your life depended on it. And after a while you will have no one else but you to compete against. At that point, better your best.

10. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Intelligent people ask. Keep questioning yourself and others to find solutions. This will help gain knowledge and analyze your growth in all walks of life.

10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein at LifeTweak - Lifestyle Tweaks and Pointers on Self Improvement, Productivity and Positivity

Interesting Software Development Articles

The Mythical 5% - Talk given by B. Eckel about Software Development.

They Write the Right Stuff - About the NASA software engineers.

Fare-Finder Shootout: Mobissimo Wins - GigaOM

Going to have to try this sometime and see how well it works.

Mobissimo 

Fare-Finder Shootout: Mobissimo Wins - GigaOM

Get a human voice on the phone

This seems like a great idea and database. It's a collection of companies, phone numbers and the method's to bypass the automated systems and reach a human being on the other end. I just hope it's kept updated.

gethuman 500 database from Paul English

SmugMug Picasa Uploader

Finally someone has created the plugin I've been thinking about making for almost a year now. You can now upload to smugmug.com directly from Google Picasa.

Great plugin, thanks meejer.com!

SmugMug Picasa Uploader

Update [03-23-08]: It looks like this is the new uploader or at least this one works:

New Uploader

Nutrigrain Ad

Oh Yeahhhh!!! I feel great!

Best cup of chai this side of Bombay

I'm a chai addict. I even like the starbucks when I can't have the home version. I've never been to this place below but I'm going try the recipe and see if it lives up to the reputation.

Raman Bechar's Chai

This is a home version of the chai at Coastside Gourmet Coffee Tea & Health Nuts in Half Moon Bay. Owner Raman Bechar and his son, Raj, make each chai to order by frothing the milk, tea, sugar and spice mix together with their espresso machine. This recipe allows you to prepare it on the stovetop.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons Tea India tea leaves (see Note), or a blend of Darjeeling and Assam tea leaves

1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

Two pinches Chai Masala (see recipe)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine the milk, tea leaves and sugar in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. As it slowly comes to a simmer, swirl often to incorporate the sugar and keep an eye on the heat to prevent the milk from burning. A thin film will form on the surface and the milk will turn golden.

When the milk comes to a low boil, reduce heat, add a pinch of spice mix and simmer gently, swirling occasionally, for 3 minutes.

Set a small strainer over a tea cup. To create foam, hold the saucepan a foot or more above the cup and pour in the chai, then let rest for a minute or two. Dust with a small pinch of spice mix.

Yields 1 cup

Note: Raman Bechar uses the imported Tea India brand, which is for sale at his cafe and at Indian grocers.

PER CUP: 200 calories, 8 g protein, 24 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat (5 g saturated), 33 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium, 0 fiber.

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Chai Masala

The exact proportion of spices in Bechar's chai masala, or spice blend, is a house secret. This recipe is an approximation and will make enough for multiple cups of chai. Be sure to use fresh spices.

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon ground green cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine all spices in a small bowl. Stir well to blend.

Yields 2 1/4 teaspoons

Best cup of chai this side of Bombay

EDUTRUE: Ten Mistakes In Education by Roger Schank

EDUTRUE: Ten Mistakes In Education by Roger Schank

Ten Mistakes In Education

By Roger Schank

Founding Director, The Institute for the Learning Sciences (ILS)

Obviously, I believe that the school system is making a great many mistakes. Here are my ten favorites, favorite not because I like them but because eradicating them would go so far towards helping kids learn:

Mistake #1: SCHOOLS ACT AS IF LEARNING CAN BE DISASSOCIATED FROM DOING.

There really is no learning without doing. There is the appearance of learning without doing when we ask children to memorize stuff. But adults know that they learn best on the job, from experience, by trying things out. Children learn best that way, too. If there is nothing to actually do in a subject area we want to teach children it may be the case that there really isn't anything that children ought to learn in that subject area.

---

Mistake #2: SCHOOLS BELIEVE THEY HAVE THE JOB OF ASSESSMENT AS PART OF THEIR NATURAL ROLE.

Assessment is not the job of the schools. Products ought to be assessed by the buyer of those products, not the producer of those products. Let the schools do the best job they can and then let the buyer beware. Schools must concentrate on learning and teaching, not testing and comparing.

---

Mistake #3: SCHOOLS BELIEVE THEY HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO CREATE STANDARD CURRICULA.

Why should everyone know the same stuff? What a dull world it would be if everyone knew only the same material. Let children choose where they want to go, and with proper guidance they will choose well and create an alive and diverse society.

---

Mistake #4: TEACHERS BELIEVE THEY OUGHT TO TELL STUDENTS WHAT THEY THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW.

There isn't all that much that it is important to know. There is a lot that it is important to know how to do, however. Teachers should help students figure out how to do stuff the students actually want to do.

---

Mistake #5: SCHOOLS BELIEVE INSTRUCTION CAN BE INDEPENDENT OF MOTIVATION FOR ACTUAL USE.

We really have to get over the idea that some stuff is just worth knowing even if you never do anything with it. Human memories happily erase stuff that has no purpose, so why try to fill up children's heads with such stuff? Concentrate on figuring out why someone would ever want to know something before you teach it, and teach the reason, in a way that can be believed, at the same time.

---

Mistake #6: SCHOOLS BELIEVE STUDYING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF LEARNING.

Practice is an important part of learning, not studying. Studying is a complete waste of time. No one ever remembers the stuff they cram into their heads the night before the exam, so why do it? Practice, on the other hand, makes perfect. But, you have to be practicing a skill that you actually want to know how to perform.

---

Mistake #7: SCHOOLS BELIEVE THAT GRADING ACCORDING TO AGE GROUP IS AN INTRINSIC PART OF THE ORGANIZATION OF A SCHOOL.

This is just a historical accident and it's a terrible idea. Age-grouped grades are one of the principal sources of terror for children in school, because they are always feeling they are not as good as someone else or better than someone else, and so on. Such comparisons and other social problems caused by age-similar grades cause many a child to have terrible confidence problems. Allowing students to help those who are younger, on the other hand, works well for both parties.

---

Mistake #8: SCHOOLS BELIEVE CHILDREN WILL ACCOMPLISH THINGS ONLY BY HAVING GRADES TO STRIVE FOR.

Grades serve as motivation for some children, but not for all. Some children get very frustrated by the arbitrary use of power represented by grades and simply give up.

---

Mistake #9: SCHOOLS BELIEVE DISCIPLINE IS AN INHERENT PART OF LEARNING.

Old people especially believe this, probably because schools were seriously rigid and uptight in their day. The threat of a ruler across the head makes children anxious and quiet. It does not make them learn. It makes them afraid to fail, which is a different thing altogether.

---

Mistake #10: SCHOOLS BELIEVE STUDENTS HAVE A BASIC INTEREST IN LEARNING WHATEVER IT IS SCHOOLS DECIDE TO TEACH THEM.

What kid would choose learning mathematics over learning about animals, trucks, sports, or whatever? Is there one? Good. Then, teach him mathematics. Leave the other children alone.

Experiment: Surviving a Month Without Internet

Poets&Writers, Inc.

Good article and some common sense to apply in your own daily lives.

Rock, paper, scissors - the loser

Motivational Posters for those who love bikes

Motivational Posters for those who love bikes

Aging, longevity genes and red wine

Will research into "longevity genes" help us live longer and healthier lives?

This was a great segment on the Nova show. You've might have heard that red wine and cutting your food intake is good for you but after watching this, you might learn the science behind it.

I'm now trying to drink a glass or two of red wine everyday. Can be pricey. So I recommend finding some good and cheap red wines.

Any recommendations?

Check it out: NOVA | scienceNOW | Aging | PBS

Why Your Free Time is Boring - lifehack.org

Very interesting article that might change your perception of work and play.

I certainly enjoy my job but you have to find and sometimes even create that happy place. 

Why Your Free Time is Boring - lifehack.org

Things I wish I’d known when I was younger - lifehack.org

Although it's good as a refresher too:

Most of it doesn’t matter.

The greatest source of misery and hatred in this world is clinging to past hurts.

Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever.

Following the latest fashion, in work or in life, is spiritual and intellectual suicide.

If people complain that you’re too fond of going your own way and aren’t fitting in, you must be on the right track.

If you make your work your life, you’re making your life into hard work.

The quickest and simplest way to wreck any relationship is to listen to gossip.

Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity.

Every winner is destined to be a loser in due course.

You can rarely, if ever, please, placate, change, or mollify an asshole.

Everything takes twice as long as you plan for and produces results about half as good as you hoped.

People are oddly consistent.

However hard you try, you can’t avoid being yourself.

When it comes to blatant lies, there are none more egregious than budget figures.

The loudest noise in the world is the sound of people whining.

 

Read more here:

Things I wish I’d known when I was younger - lifehack.org

Neatorama » Origin of Familiar Phrases

Interesting how some of these phrases came about like this one:

TOUCH AND GO

Meaning: A risky, precarious situation
Origin: “Dates back to the days of stagecoaches, whose drivers were often intensely competitive, seeking to charge past one another, on narrow roads, at grave danger to life and limb. If the vehicle’s wheels became entangled, both would be wrecked; if they were lucky, the wheels would only touch and the coaches could still go.” (From Loose Cannons and Red Herrings, by Robert Claiborne)

Read more here:

Neatorama » Blog Archive » Origin of Familiar Phrases

Einstein on Buddhism

Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. -Albert Einstein

If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. -Albert Einstein

A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compasion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
-Albert Einstein

Here's another quote from Einstein that I love. It is my signature at the bottom of my emails:

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. -Albert Einstein

From: http://thebuddhistblog.blogspot.com/2005/05/einstein-on-buddhism.html

Great quotes from a great man about a religion that fascinates me for it's tranquility and honesty. The blog looks interesting and I'll have to follow the rss feed now.

Motivation: Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret - Lifehacker

This seems like a great tip to try. Seems kinda cool that Seinfeld used it also.

Motivation: Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret - Lifehacker

Chiranjeevi: Indian Bruce Willis?

I don't know much about this guy but I ran across some of his YT goodness. Very funny videos.

Megastar on wikipedia: Chiranjeevi

Forget what you know about action movies and physics in general:

(Classic, I always wondered if this was possible)

 

(Wait for the end)

(Cheesy goodness)

It’s so bad that it’s good.

#6 - Auspicious

I use to think word had a negative connotation instead of the positive one:

auspicious \aw-SPISH-uhs\, adjective:
1. Giving promise of success, prosperity, or happiness; predicting good; as, "an auspicious beginning."
2. Prosperous; fortunate; as, "auspicious years."

But as Saturday fell on a very auspicious day in the Chinese calendar, every hotel in Nanjing was booked for weddings.
-- Seth Kaplan with Craig S. Smith, "Adventure the Chinese Way", New York Times, May 3, 2000

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/auspicious

#5 - Antebellum

From - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: 

Antebellum is a Latin word meaning before war (ante means before and bellum means war).

In United States history and historiography, the term antebellum is often used to refer to the period of increasing sectionalism leading to the American Civil War, instead of the term "pre-Civil War". In that context, the Antebellum Period is often considered to have begun with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, although sometimes it is defined as extending back as early as 1812. Sometimes it is called the Old South. The time period after the civil war is called the postbellum or reconstruction era.

Antebellum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

#4 - Acumen

 

acumen \uh-KYOO-muhn; AK-yuh-muhn\, noun:
Quickness of perception or discernment; shrewdness shown by keen insight.

With Leo's rare combination of editorial acumen and business know-how, he might have become a publishing giant had he not permitted his drinking and gambling to hold him back.
-- Ellis Amburn, Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac

Source: Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/acumen

#3 - Abstemious

I'm trying to be more abstemious myself.

abstemious \ab-STEE-mee-uhs\, adjective:
1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.

They were healthy and abstemious; their chief pleasure was reading and Oliver was a life member of the London Library.
-- Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Music at Long Verney

Source: Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/abstemious

A CHOCOLATE MESS

I love chocolate. Good chocolate. I usually don't eat the Hershey's varieties so much but the following proposal has me concerned and pissed. It's ridiculous:

Link to Jim Hightower | A CHOCOLATE MESS

Anyway, they give links to voice your opinion and they are some of the clearest and easiest I've seen yet. I don't get to voice my concern too often but you can't mess with Chocolate. :-)

Technorati tags: Food

#2 - Abrogate

Dictionary.com has a great service called "Word of the day". I use to subscribe to it until I realized I would skip days. I ended up with about 200 days that I was behind. I still recommend it if you can keep up.

abrogate \AB-ruh-gayt\, transitive verb:
1. To annul or abolish by an authoritative act.
2. To put an end to; to do away with.

He also knows that failure to secure a clear unionist majority will leave the UUP [Ulster Unionist Party] leader vulnerable to those pressing for an assembly manifesto which would effectively threaten to abrogate the agreement.
-- "Politeness could not mask gulf within the UUP", Irish Times, May 20, 1998

Source: Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/abrogate

Abjure - The First Word

I just noticed that it's been almost a month since I posted last.

So I think I'll try something new to keep my postings going. Everyday (theoretically), I will post the meanings to those 100 words list.

Most likely, I'll use Dictionary.com for the meanings. Without further ado, the first word is:

abjure

abjure \ab-JUR\, transitive verb:
1. To renounce under oath.
2. To renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to reject; repudiate.
3. To abstain from; to shun.

abjure, on his knees, his heretical views that the Earth moves around the Sun.
-- Alan Gurney, Below the Convergence

100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know, And I barely know

I just saw this list of words that they say every parent should know. Since I'm having my first child here in a month, I thought it best to brush on this list since I know about 40 of those words.

Link to 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know published by Houghton Mifflin Company

Here are the words again: 

abjure abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin

homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious lugubrious metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter

pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat

Top 5 Ways to Build a Wonderful Life

YAL (Yet another list). I like this one though.

It's simple and I agree with it. Especially #3, Educate Yourself. 

Link to Top 5 Ways to Build a Wonderful Life

Hot Dog Spot: The quest for the BEST Hot Dog in Los Angeles

So tonight my wife and I are at the usual dilemma of what to eat for dinner. Food channel was doing a "The secret life of" hot dogs series and, of course, we had to have hot dogs.

So I searched the web and found what I think is a pretty cool hot dog restaurant review site. These guys definitely love dogs and they have some good reviews of local Los Angeles hot dog restaurants.

So far, I've only had Pinks Hot Dog, which is a well-known local favorite that is has been featured in ads, movies and shows like Entourage. Unfortunately, they didn't rate it very high but I thought was pretty good.

I've yet to try the other spots but now I'm excited to. This will definitely hurt the so-called diet.

Hot Dog Spot: The quest for the BEST Hot Dog in Los Angeles

Team Hanselman and Diabetes Walk 2007

Scott Hanselman is great blogger. I've admired his work on ASP.NET and in general the tools, fonts, and all the geeky stuff he's gets excited about.

Help him out as he tries to raise money for a Diabetes Walk. It doesn't take much. I already donated.

 

Link to Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - Team Hanselman and Diabetes Walk 2007

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I love the kind of things that kids come up with.  

A first grade teacher collected well-known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb, and had them come up with the rest. Their insight may surprise you...

Better to be safe than ....Punch a 5th grader.
Strike while the.....Bug is close.
It's always darkest before....Daylight Savings time.
Never underestimate the power of.....Termites.
You can lead a horse to water but ....how?
Don't bite the hand that ....looks dirty.
No news is....impossible.
A miss is as good as a .....Mr.
You can't teach an old dog new....math.
If you lie down with dogs, you....stink in the morning.
Love all, trust .....me.
The pen is mightier than the....pigs.
An idle mind is....the best way to relax
Where there's smoke there's ....Pollution.
Happy the bride who.....gets all the presents.
A penny saved is....not much
Two's company, three's....the Musketeers.
Don't put off till tomorrow what....you put on to go to bed.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and ....you have to blow your nose.
None are so blind as....Helen Keller.
Children should be seen and not....spanked or grounded.
If at first you don't succeed....get new batteries.
You get out of something what you....see pictured on the box
When the blind leadeth the blind....get out of the way.

Source: Villines Internet Humor Archive   Out of the Mouths of Babes

The Simple Dollar » Ten Financial Reasons To Turn Off Your Television - And Ten Things To Replace It With

This is an (yet another) article talking about turning off the TV and bettering your life. I generally agree with it and to be honest, I really do watch less television these days (or I try to).

However, I don't know if I can go cold turkey. I mean, I get caught up the storylines for Lost, The Shield, MotoGP, Formula 1, Lakers, etc.

I know its worth it but I think my lifestyle will change in the coming months anyway. Baby on the way. :-)

Link to The Simple Dollar » Ten Financial Reasons To Turn Off Your Television - And Ten Things To Replace It With

Freakonomics, the blog

If you liked the book then you'll probably like the blog too. I've said before that I loved the book. Even if you don't agree with it, it gets you thinking.

In fact, on a recent flight, I mentioned the book to a guy sitting next to me and he had an unusual reaction to it. He said that when he had recommended it to a black co-worker, that they had found it racist. I cannot speak for everyone but I read the book and I didn't see it that way.

Anyway, it was a great book and the blog is pretty good too:

http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/

Windows Live Writer Beta

This little windows app lets you create your blog entries in a nice little editor on the desktop rather in the browser.

I'm writing from the app now and I have to say its pretty cool.

I used it for another blog on a long message and it did great.

 You can download it here.

Go Speed Reader

I'll admit that I don't read as often I would like to. It just seems like there is too much crap to watch on TV or YouTube. The last book I read was Freakonmics. Great book. Gets you thinking even if you don't agree with it.

I'm a slow reader but this book took me two months to finish. However, I only really read it for about 20 minutes a day and the information is worth comprehending. But I'm still pretty slow to average reader.

So I was happy to discover this link to improve your reading speed with comprehension. The article was so interesting that I actually read it and not just file into my Del.icio.us links that I will probably never read.

Take a look at this interesting article on doubling your reading rate.

I'll report back on if it works for me but don't hold your breath. It will take me some time to master but I immediately liked what he said about the subvocalizing.

Btw, speaking of good books, this one looks good too:
Survival of the Sickest

Sucker for a good bike trip

I love to hear about stories of people who've done some amazing traveling. Like Rupert Wilson-young. He did 20,000 miles on a Yamaha Vino 50 !!! Wow. He even took some great shots along the way which you can see here: 20k on Vino Pics.

I like this one:


I really started liking the idea of traveling long distance traveling on 2 wheels many years ago. I think it was a blog entry by some guy who traveled from California to Alaska on a motorcycle.

But what really got me passionate about the idea was the Round the World trip that Ewan McGregor and his best friend Charlie B. took in Long Way Round. Aptly called 2 men, 2 bikes, 20,000 miles ...

The farthest that I've rode so far is 350 miles round-trip. So far...

Baby Sign Language

Scott H. has a great post that has me excited to try this when my daughter is born in 4 more months. Essentially, it's sign language for babies.

Baby Sign Language

Nom de Blog

I probably haven't mentioned but the Nom de Blog(blog name)/sub name are references to song names from my favorite band:


Trashcan Sinatras

Check out some of their music from free.

Although, I do have trouble sleeping but I have for the last 20 years.

Good Om Malik Post on Indian Outsourcers

Om Malik has a great article about the current trend that the top talent in India is favoring:

Troubling Signs for Indian Tech Outsourcers

Arrgh. Craigslist scammers suck

Recently, I've been trying to sell a vehicle on craigslist and so far I've received 2 people offer me certified checks. I guess they figure that I wouldn't read this obvious warning from CL.

Another guy is so persistent that he offered me $300 above my asking price if I would accept his home depot gift card offer. Apparently, he doesn't think that people can google:
Gift Card Fraud Arrest

I've used CL several times in the last 4 years and its been great but lately these jerks are screwing it up for everyone.

I guess its to be expected but I just hope others don't fall for it. Part of my angst come from recently watching this great movie about one of the biggest scams ever:
Enron.

Harmony 550

I broke down and bought one (used). It's a good remote after programming setup. I do wish though that it would allow me to modify the activities myself.

Otherwise, great remote. Go get one.

I have mad 8th grade math skills!

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

I used paper to solve most of these and I guessed on one question but it was a smart guess using elimination. Hey at 2:42AM, I don't care.

ClipX rocks

Arsclip is out. Unfortunately the vista issues with that app just made me look for something more stable.

ClipX is that answer.

I found it thru Travis Illig's blog which saved me the trouble of trying out a bunch of apps. So thx Travis.

Another Review.

Anyways, so far so good.

Free image hosting

This is a nice site for those times you need to post an image to ebay or craigslist.

Beware what you upload because the site and images are public and kept indefinetly according to the FAQ.

freeimagehosting.net

Google energy savings?

Google.com has been my homepage for years. Now this guy posted an interesting article on how we can save more energy if google's background was black:

Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year

Turns out that while this may be true for Crts, its not for Lcd monitors. Still, I got to looking around and found a cool plugin for Firefox, Stylish. This pulgin makes many sites look much cleaner.

Stylish

Private Folder

I haven't tried this but it looks it might be interesting if I need to ever share my laptop.

Microsoft Private Folder 1.0

1 Week

I was gone for a company summit that was intense and yet very fun. It got my passion going again for what I'm working on. Although, it didn't give me much time to blog or probably I just chose not to. Oh well.

Want and need

I read those financial blogs now and then. They speak of various way to become rich or just solve your financial problems. They talk about the difference between rich and others. Like that the rich only buy what they need.

So I try my best to separate between my wants and needs. Because they say that the rich only buy what they need. Or that the rich only buy things that appreciate in value.

Well, I know I don't need a new remote control but dammit, I want this one:

Harmony 550

I'll see how long I can hold out.

Btw, don't they also say that many rich folks are unhappy? Could be if they had this remote then they would be happier. :-)

Tennis channel contest

Tennis channel has a contest to pick who will win the Australian open. So for fun, you can see my picks here:

Tennis Channel Contest

Funny car note

EDIT: Well this was a funny note but it appears missing now from flickr.

Pic
Let this be a lesson to you double space parking hogs.

Meaning of Love?

This is a great post about answers from kids when asked what Love means:

What does love mean?

iPhone looks good

Have you seen the iPhone from Apple yet? I haven't, except for on the web. But it looks very cool, sleek, sexy and innovative. As you can tell, envy has already set in. Must resist temptation to get one.

Early Riser and Joe's Ok

So I'm still using Joe's Goals and I had question which I sent him and he responded in a few hours. Nice.

The goals that I have been wanting half heartedly are now becoming clear that I need to adopt, accept and change my ways. As you can tell from the title of this blog. I have trouble sleeping. Thats fine, I mean I can live with that but lately, its totally thrown off my cycle.

So I am going to try these suggestions from Steve Pavlina:

Early Riser

Early Riser Pt.2

Get up when alarm goes off...

I enjoy his writing. But there is so much to read that I get caught up reading every other article and I feel like I'm wasting time or something even though its for personal development.

Anyways, lets see how it goes.

Here is his: Best of...

Chile Spiced Mango... mmm!

These are a great snack.

Chile Spiced Mango

Redoxx AirBoss

Well, in a swift (and maybe foolish) click, I bought the Airboss.

You see I'll be doing lots of travel this year and I love the concept of traveling light: OneBag.com

Well after my own travels, I've learned a good bag can be key. So I'm going to give this one a try:

AirBoss

Juding from it popularity with the traveling crowd, it should be pretty good. Price, however, is not on budget side.

Goals and a new home page

I like the in your face look of this goals site so I made it my homepage for now.

Joes Goals

Pandora

Looking for new music based on music you listen to now?

Pandora

Simply following the easy menu.

If you haven't seen this, then check it out.

Paypal Virtual Cards, Amazon and Roomba

This is a great idea that I've reading about but haven't used until today:

Paypal Virtual Debit Cards FAQ

Basically, its a Mastercard that is good for 1 day with $150.00 spending limit on your paypal account. Great!

So I thought I would try it on a Roomba that I've been eyeing:

Roomba

Unfortunately, its not so obvious where in paypal you might click to get to so check out this post. It contains a link there to point you to the specific place for the virtual cards whether they are paypal approved or not.

Buy with Paypal Virtual Cards

Happy New Year

I hope the new year brings you joy and happiness.

Here is some words for the new year from the Daily Zen.

Discovery Deconstruction

Pretty informative show on house construction. Well, at least it was for me. The host is a little goofy but its pretty good overall.

Discovery Deconstruction

5 good phone tips free

Five fantastic free phone tricks

Pikipimp fun

Upload a photo and have some fun:

Pikipimp

Zyb, almost...

I just got a Treo650 and I'm trying to find how get the contacts from my Sanyo 2300 to the treo. I stumble onto Zyb, which seems perfect except it doesn't support Sanyo. Arrgh.

I know I could get the usb cable for the sanyo but the sanyo is one foot out the door.

Zyb

UPDATE: Zyb, didn't work for me. Found www.mobical.net but doesn't look like that will work either. Sprint has a paid service: wirelessbackup.sprint.com but I can't login for some reason, probably my phone is not supported.

digg and Microsoft rock!

You maybe saying Duh, of course Digg rocks. But I used it to search for a free web host. I have this site that I help my brother-in-law host. There isn't much traffic and it never gets updated. So I thought it was a waste of money paying to host it. Well Microsoft came with the perfect solution for me. After searching google and giving up, I searched digg for free web host and presto:

MS Office Live Free offer

That is the digg link and you will have to register but you get a domain name and free hosting from MS. Wow! Thats awesome. Anyways, the online editor may not be for everyone but I was up and running in less than an hour.

They do ask you for creditcard info but that is to verify you are not some spammer or something. Not sure but its worth it, for free ;-)

Goodbye BOA and good riddance

I've been a customer of BOA since 1992. So after all these years, its goodbye. I don't want to gripe about them so much as leave myself a reminder to not go back, no matter how good the offer looks.

Bees Busted

I kind of felt sorry for the bees but I thought that if I was there on the scene, I might have become a little redneck myself:

Bees

Vmail to Email

I gotta remember to try this. It seems very interesting. Getting your voicemail as email and its free.

Callwave

Utils I use often

I've come to realize that I have been using some tools that at one time helped me solve a problem. What I didn't do was see if there was a better solution entirely. Probably because that takes too much time and/or thought. Or probably because I tend to get distracted by the effort. I find several solutions and I'll trouble picking one. Anyways, I'll do various versions of this post where I'll document the various tools that I use.

This tool is handy to checking various accounts and deleting spam from them before you open it in your inbox.
ePrompter

Clipboard manager tool. I know there are others but this one has worked well for me. Works in Vista too.
ArsClip

Unfortunately this doesn't work in Vista yet and I do miss it. Hopefully the devs will release a vista version soon:
StrokeIt

Dune, funny pic

For you Dune fans.

Sony grounding issues

I recently got a Sony Vaio laptop for my new job. I'm using to record some audio and notice there is a constant buzz. After some searching, I find that there is a grounding issue with some Sony laptops. WTF? Sony does a lot of things right like this laptop but how can they ignore this:

Link

Supposedly there is a 3 prong power adapter, you know like most power adapters that have the ground prong in them? Well, if you supposedly complain enough to Sony, they may send you one? Again, wtf? As I said, the laptop is great but I'm disappointed to learn they don't fix this and/or recall the laptops.

Bad habits

I resolved last week to make a new post everyday in order to be better a better blogger. Instead, it seems that I'm doing several posts in one day. I'm going to have to rethink this strategy.

Single spacing after a period

There is a video on MSDN Channel 9 where a guy, I think his name was Bill Hill talking about typography and why you should always use single spaces after a period. Well I'm trying. But after 20 years of double, it's hard to change.

After some digging I found the video. It's kind of interesting, plus he's got a cool accent:
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=10849

Google Reader Rocks.. Now.

IMO, newsgator is still great but lately I've been using the google reader and I just like the feel of it better. I use it on my Treo650 when I'm walking the dog to see what scoble has to say. Anyways, it does seem like when Google puts their mind to something, they do a pretty damn good job. Like the new blogger. I redid someone else's site and it came out great. All within 30mins of mucking around. I think I'm going to redo this again.

Five things...

... you probably didn't know about me:

1) I liked Fried Green Tomatoes. (The first time I saw it as a teenager.) Now, its ok.
2) I'm a Los Angeles Lakers Fan.
3) I love raisins. (But I can get sick of them.)
4) I use to think that life was not too short.
5) As a kid growing up in India, I would love the smell of the dirt after it had rained (Almost good enough to eat). But seriously, the smell was great.

New Plasma TV

I just got my new 42" plasma TV today. How is it? Can't say yet, since I'm doing the recommended 100+ hours of Burnin to prevent burnin.

http://www.eaprogramming.com/

I'll let you know next week.

Remove comments...

This new feature of the blogger is nice. I like. I didn't even know but I had this comment below on one of my old posts:

I found your blog when I was googling for love and romance articles. I also visited an interesting site at http://@FDFDF.FDF that is also related to local swingers and has some useful tips for singles, check it if you’re interested.

New Blogger

In order to be better at anything you have to practice it. So my friend Drew says, if you want to be a better blogger, blog everyday!

That might be tough. But lets try it, especially since Blogger just switched over to a new format. Haven't read up on the all the benefits but I'm willing to give it a go.

So here we go... again.

BlogMap

Check out Chandu Thota's blog map


Here is my blog map:

ScITE & Context Menu Handler

I use to be a big fan of notepad. That's right, notepad. It was simple. Then I was introduced to UltraEdit which quickly grew on me. I had seen some other editors like
Scintilla/ScITE but I really like the tabbed interface, macros, etc.. of UltraEdit.

Because I don't have much time to play with different editors, I didn't immediately switch to Scintilla even though I like many things about it.

Then I found this post which made me realize that it can do many things that UltraEdit does.

So I'm using ScITE now but one of the main things I missed from UltraEdit was its context menu integration. I can right-click on various files from explorer and open then in ultraedit, modify then quit. So after some googling, I found the following which now satisfies my initial reservations to switch:

This is a installation that has the context menu handler pre-packaged for easy install. (I'm using this one)
SciTE - Scintilla Text Editor

Separate Dll but I'm sure works just as well (i.e.: I haven't tried it)
Spacedblue | Code: Context Menu Extension for SciTE


Now I admit most developers have a passion for the one they current use, which is mainly due to familiarity, but if your interested then I recommend this one.

Screenshot

GTD aka Getting Things Done

So I have been reading around on some blogs about GTD and the book. It sparked my interest so I bought the book. I mean who doesn't want to be more productive?

It started when I saw this post:

GTD: Breaking Projects Into Short Tasks

Which lead me to:

Getting started with "GTD"

And just today I found the following link, which I think sums a lot of what I believe in. I already do about half of the things Mark mentions but certianly I need to do the notebook thing more:

Getting Things Done!

Newsgator Rocks!

I read a lot of blogs. When I say I read, I mean skim unless it's interesting. And I have tried various different RSS aggregators but my problem with the local versions that run on my machine (SharpReader, RSSBandit, etc.) is that I have too many feeds and they become a burden to run.

So if I want to update, it takes a big hit on my machine. This where services like Newsgator and BlogLines come in handy. They are server based and much easier to maintain. They both have similar features but I like interface of Newsgator better. On Newsgator can save entries in a clippings section and the manage folders functionality is also very nice. However, on bloglines, you can have a blog and one cool thing is that you easily have your feeds be your blogrolled w/o having to do much.

Anyways, both are cool but Newsgator is my homepage now for the last month or so. And one of these days, I'll post some of the feeds I read. BTW, the feed on the right side of this blog, Del.icio.us, is actually coming from a cool feature in Newsgator.

Desktop Sidebar rocks

This tool is pretty cool, check it out:

Desktop Sidebar

Lots of useful plugins like email, news, winamp, media player, etc.