The year 2008 in photographs – boston.com

Check out this set of pictures from Boston.com. It shows greats photos of events both happy, momentous and extremely tragic.

And this is only the first part. I'll have to keep an eye out for parts 2 and 3:

The year 2008 in photographs (part 1 of 3)

2008 has been an eventful year to say the least - it is difficult to sum up the thousands of stories in just a handful of photographs. That said, I will try to do what I've done with other photo narratives here, and tell a story of 2008 in photographs. It's not the story of 2008, it's certainly not all stories, but as a collection it does show a good portion of what life has been like over the past 12 months. This is a multi-entry story, 120 photographs over three days. Watch for part 2 and part 3 tomorrow and the next day. (40 photos total)

Wine Recommendation: Peter Lehmann Shiraz '05

Picked up this great 2005 Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz from Costco yesterday for $12 bucks. Dark color, fruit flavors but mellow.

You can also pick it p from Bevmo.

How to Be Outstanding | ThinkSimpleNow.com

How to Be Outstanding | ThinkSimpleNow.com: "People who consistently achieve outstanding results all have this in common: they are passionate about what they do. It’s no longer work, but an active participation of joy and creativity."

Good post.

Where is Matt 2008? - CollegeHumor video

Cool and inspirational video from Matt again. Dancing all over the world. Ahh, if only.

42 countries in 14 months. This explains why Matt couldn't make the Pork & Beans shoot.

Where is Matt 2008? - CollegeHumor video

Will Ferrell: Class Day speech

This speech from Will Ferrell to Harvard Grads in 2003 is hilarious:

This is not the Worcester, Mass Boat Show, is it? I am sorry. I have made a terrible mistake. Ever since I left "Saturday Night Live," I mostly do public speaking now. And I must have made an error in the little Palm Pilot. Boy. Don't worry. I got it on me. I got the speech on me. Let's see. Ah, yes. Here we go.

You know, when Bill Gates first called me to speak to you today, I was honored. But when he wanted me to be one of the Roxbury guys, I -- Sorry, that's Microsoft. I'm sorry about that. Star Trek Convention. No. NRA. NAACP. Dow Chemical. No. But that is a good one. That is a good speech. The University of Michigan Law. Johns Hopkins Medical School. I'm sorry. Are you sure this is not the boat show? No, I have it. I do have it on me. I do. It's here. Thank you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Faculty, Administrators, Friends and Family and, of course, the graduating Class of 2003, I wish to say hello and thank you for bestowing this honor upon me as your Class Day speaker. After months of secret negotiations, several hundred secret ballots, and a weekend retreat with Vice President Dick Cheney in his secret mountain bunker, a Class Day speaker was chosen, and it was me. You obviously have made a grave error. But it's too late now. So let's just go with it.

Will Ferrell: Class Day speech

Wallpaper fascination

While looking for a good GTD Wallpaper, I stumbled on a link for those who like wallpapers:

7 Windows Wallpaper Tricks That Don’t Disappoint

Site has good links including a link for social site for wallpaper geeks.

RoboForm is very good

I remember the first time I heard of this tool was many years ago when I was still skeptical of browser plugins. Especially ones that kept my passwords. So I've used password safe for many years now. But there is no browser integration which makes things a headache to open pwsafe and manually enter those details. This is where RoboForm shines. It does a great job to manage my passwords and also to show me only those that pertain to the website. For example, I have several gmail accounts and RoboForm shows me only these when I'm on the gmail login page. Brilliant. Then I select the account I want to login with and presto, I'm logged in.

So, I recommend you give RoboForm a try. I don't have any qualms about its integration or password storing as its been around a while and gotten many other good reviews as well.

The only issue I have is that in IE8 Beta, the popup doesn't work. However, it works great in Firefox and this is probably an IE8 beta issue.

Kenny Smith (doesn't) jump over an Aston Martin!

This is one thing I love about the guys on the TNT Post show. They're very funny. Check out this clip which spoofs Kobe's latest Nike commercial. Very funny.

How We're Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take -- New York Magazine

I try to walk for 30 minutes everyday. It feels good to have this walk. Turns out though that the highly padded shoes I've been wearing could be hurting me more than helping. Check out this article in the NY Magazine. Here are some alternative shoes to going barefoot:

MASAI BAREFOOT TECHNOLOGY

The thick sole mimics the soft, unstable ground on which our ancestors walked. But your foot won’t roll through each step—the sole does the rolling for you.

NIKE FREE

After decades of gimmicky shoes, Nike released the Free: light and flexible, and available in various stages, with Free 5.0 pitched as halfway to barefoot.

VIVO BAREFOOT

Basically a leather slipper with a 3-mm.-thick puncture-resistant sole. It’s thin enough to feel pebbles underfoot and flexible enough to fold in half like a wallet.

VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS

This fabric-and-rubber sock with individuated toes is primarily for outdoor sports like kayaking—though at least one entrant wore them to run in the Boston Marathon.

How We're Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take -- New York Magazine

FoodFeed.us and Twitter

When twitter first came out, I thought I wouldn't want to know what my friends were up to all the time. Well, that was one misconception I had about twitter. Twitter is pretty cool, when I have time to pay attention to it.

This new service foodfeed.us looks interesting. It allows you to post from twitter, updates on what you're eating. I'll use it as a food tracker for now but part of me wonders if this is like TMI (too much info). [Btw, if you're mind immediately wonders if there will be feeds for other necessary body functions, then please drop me a line so I know I'm not alone ;-) .]

FoodFeed.us

Sync your Facebook contacts with Outlook & Windows Mobile

Just tried this and the outlook integration is pretty cool. I don't have a windows mobile phone but I'll try to see if it works with the Treo. In my case the app did crash but it does work in importing the pics to outlook. Check out the demo from the developer here:

Sync your Facebook contacts with Outlook (and Windows Mobile)

Educators Corner: Stanford Videos/Podcasts

My iPod has been playing these great Stanford talks from industry professionals. These podcasts talk about entrepreneurship, leadership, etc. Well worth listening to:

Educators Corner: Top 20 Videos

Tennis Lookalikes: Rafa, Novak, Roger, Marat, etc

Plan vs Planning

I saw an article on goal achieving (yet again) and one of the items it mentioned was planning for the next day, week, etc. I casually asked my friend if he planned his days. He sent me this interesting quote from Eisenhower:

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

I asked him what he thought the difference between plan and planning meant and I like his explanation:

ME: "Does he mean it's more important to go through the act of planning and then dump the plan which comes out of it?"

Friend: "not dump the plan, but not to treat the plan as a set of instructions. Circumstances often invalidate the plan, especially longer term plans, but the act of planning prepares the planner for the future even when they have to stray from or abandon the original plan."

Anyway's, as a little reminder to myself to go through the act of planning, I've posted this entry. Thanks goes to my friend Drew.

Lessons from the zoo – applied in the bedroom

I once visited UC Berkeley in the 90s with my friend Sumit. We met up with Sumit's friend, Bunty, who lived just off campus in a shared house with 3 other guys. Now Bunty was a nice and down-to-earth kind of guy. Even while finishing up his Phd and working on some cool eye technology at the time. What was surprising was the other three guys in the house. They were completely reclusive. Not very friendly, communicative, etc. When I asked Bunty how he could live with these guys who were so closed off/anti-social, he said that it was even worse when he first met them. Bunty said that he had to train them to change. So I was like WTF. In my younger days this was crazy thinking. That you can change somebody. But what he meant was that you can encourage people to change. Of course the change still comes from within but positive reinforcement towards the desired behavior is the key. This article below describes an animal trainer's approach to this type of encouragement to change behaviors:

The rules are simple. Reward the behaviour you want. Ignore the behaviour you don't want

globeandmail.com: Lessons from the zoo – applied in the bedroom

Unclutterer » The Real Cost of Financial Clutter on the Road to a Remarkable Life

Some tips that sound like good advice. Now I'll have to follow up on these sometime:

Every time you spend a dollar, you sacrifice a bit of your future.

Calculate the true value of your time.

Physically unclutter your living space.

Set some big goals - and remind yourself of them all the time.

Use the true value of your time - and those visual reminders of your big dreams - every time you consider making a purchase.

Go through every. single. monthly. bill.

De-clutter your debt.

Unclutterer » Archive » The Real Cost of Financial Clutter on the Road to a Remarkable Life

Jott's Web 2.0 Sites Integration

I started using Jott.com this week and it's useful. I tried it November 07 but the transcription service wasn't that great and I didn't get my email very quickly. Seems they've worked the bugs and it's worth checking out again. As I setup more contacts, I noticed that I could even twitter from my cell phone now. That's cool. They also have a ton of other sites integrated like blogger, Xpenser, and bunch more which I've never heard of. Here's the full list:

Dainese airbag suit for 2010

Looks weird but if it works then I'd wear one.

PsyBlog: The Attitude-Behaviour Gap: Why We Say One Thing But Do The Opposite

I try to remember this little tidbit below when speaking with most people. They will take their perceived stand but when faced with the situation they will probably bend. I include myself in this category.

that people don't do what they say they will in many situations - has been backed up by countless later studies, although in more sophisticated fashion. The question is: why?

PsyBlog: The Attitude-Behaviour Gap: Why We Say One Thing But Do The Opposite

Hand-Eye Coordination: Can You Improve It?

I started researching this topic to see if there is something, late in life, that you can do to improve this type of coordination. While I doubt I'll get much better at Tennis, I'll certainly give the eye focusing exercise a try.

Can you improve your "sports vision?" Are there exercises that can help your eyes? Because I treat so many professional and high-level athletes, I am often asked if vision can be improved as it relates to sports performance.

While I don't think there are exercises that can improve your vision per se, you can improve the way your body tracks moving objects by doing some simple drills. This will help on the field and on the court.

Try playing catch with a friend. Use a large Wiffle Ball (or any larger ball). Write large letters and numbers on the ball with a Sharpie. Try to call out the last number or letter you see before catching the ball. Also practice quickly focusing on a near, then far object. Keep going back and forth - faster and faster, focusing on your ability to focus properly.

Hand-Eye Coordination: Can You Improve It? on Yahoo! Health