Twitter Catchup for Diary

• Slowly recovering from my discovery that Guitar Hero again eluded my grasp... 05:41 PM December 26, 2007 from web


• Future improv team name created by accident on my Jott account... "Electrosets" 10:39 PM December 25, 2007 from web   


• Hopes dashed... Guitar Hero III for PC i got for Christmas requires a way better system, video card and RAM than I have... Foiled again... 10:36 PM December 25, 2007 from web   


• Guitar hero is mine! 09:12 AM December 25, 2007 from txt   


• Totally need a rechargeable battery system for 2008. 08:17 AM December 25, 2007 from txt 


• Our orange cat max is on a trial run at living with my inlaws. 09:33 PM December 24, 2007 from txt   


• Inlaws christmas, playing their wii, listening to t.n.b.c. And eating gingerbread cookies. 08:28 PM December 24, 2007 from txt   


• I heard this on the PS3 previous... awesome... to listen to at home http://tinyurl.com/2h7vna 01:23 PM December 24, 2007 from web   


• There is something about writing with a wooden pencil that is so satisfying... 09:27 AM December 19, 2007 from web   


• Left home without my thermos... Again. 09:08 AM December 19, 2007 from txt   


• Day two without my computer. I am lonely and lost. I do not know what will become of me. Help. http://tinyurl.com/23ocr9 08:53 PM December 18, 2007 from Jott   


• dinner with family, house cleaning and a full day without my computer. 10:18 PM December 16, 2007 from web   


• lost my computer for two days but gained on demand so all is not lost. 09:19 PM December 15, 2007 from web   


• So my computer won't boot to windows and I'm on a computer that my brother in law brought over... Now a trip to my cousin to fix my baby... 11:49 AM December 15, 2007 from web   


• So no new 'The Office' because of the writers strike, but I can watch reruns of this show forever so BRING IT ON... 08:58 PM December 13, 2007 from web  


• In traffic. Apparently, it hasn't rained in a couple of days and everyone in Atlanta forgot how to drive again. Bad reps(?). 06:30 PM December 13, 2007 from Jott   


• A quote today from Riley Mccarthy "My sarcasm is occasionally as cruel as a summer spent with Mormons in show business." 11:06 AM December 13, 2007 from web   


• I have a mountain dew... I have a stack of work. Stack of work + mountain dew = slightly smaller stack of work... Two days till Weekend! 09:41 AM December 13, 2007 from web   


• Sacha dropped off an advent calendar for me that is in the shape of a Dalek from Doctor Who... Chocolates inside that will.. exterminate!!!! 03:58 PM December 12, 2007 from web   


• Meeting for JaCKPie after work with Brad and Leigh. The a rehearsal with Canvas All Stars and then home... TO BED!! 03:04 PM December 12, 2007 from web   


• Bad stomach tonight. Why i thought i could eat like a normal person i dont know. 04:21 AM December 12, 2007 from txt   


• Man! I am totally digging jott.com. It is so cool! You can do anything with it. Sweet. http://tinyurl.com/2bydnr 06:54 PM December 11, 2007 from Jott   


• Ohhhh yeah baby! My buddy's movie is coming in my netflix! Sahweet!!!! http://tinyurl.com/yv7n69 05:39 PM December 11, 2007 from web   


• Back at the office with some Chinese food and a stack of work that seems taller than when I left... 12:33 PM December 11, 2007 from web   


• Waiting for the sub chiropractor as my usual is out sick. What a demand this guy seems to have!11:30 AM December 11, 2007 from txt   


• A buddy just turned me on to solving my Guitar Hero problem of not having a gaming system! http://tinyurl.com/yunm3u 09:04 AM December 11, 2007 from web   


• Came in very early this morning and knocked out all the work I was behind on... Now I am starting my day fully prepared to get behind again. 08:25 AM December 11, 2007 from web  
  Sitting with my wife on the Couch... ahhh bliss... 09:10 PM December 10, 2007 from web   


• Okay, I can Twitter using my phone and my voice. I am speaking this now. I am such a geek. http://tinyurl.com/2anof3 08:24 PM December 10, 2007 from Jott   


• Yet again I am fooled by a sudden change in temperature and barometric pressure to think that I am getting a cold... Argh... 04:56 PM December 10, 2007 from web   


• Oh please let me not be coming down with something! Oh please oh please! 01:18 PM December 10, 2007 from txt   


• Trying to get my head in the game... in a non Disney's high school musical kind of way of course. 10:15 AM December 10, 2007 from web   


• To watch from home: http://youtube.com/watch?v=... 10:14 AM December 10, 2007 from web   


• Looking at: "Watch Kids' WB! every Saturday morning 7AM - 12PM" (http://tinyurl.com/2v6ahj) 06:02 PM December 09, 2007 from web   


• watching the public twitter timelime. funny funny stuff. 05:50 PM December 09, 2007 from web   
  Best Buy, Michael's, Lunch and a Sonic Cherry Coke... here I come! 01:41 PM December 09, 2007 from web   


• Looking at: "Legion of Super-Heroes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" (http://tinyurl.com/2qlsjl) 11:50 AM December 09, 2007 from web   


• Does anyone know why I am still up? The cat is asleep. My wife is asleep. Even the tree is off already... why am I still up? 11:18 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Laughing at: "Baby Got Book (OFFICIAL)" (http://tinyurl.com/34x87v) 09:45 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Cracker barrel in kennesaw. Bring on the dumplins! 07:29 PM December 08, 2007 from txt   
  Ah... the pilot episode of the Dead Zone. Now I can really not get anything done. 04:55 PM


• December 08, 2007 from Twittervision   
  L:30101 04:53 PM December 08, 2007 from Twittervision   


• Oh no... now I have found http://twittermap.com/maps I am doomed. 03:18 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Wrapping up a work on the weekend day... I got nowhere near enough accomplished but I just can't stay anymore... dramatic eh? 03:01 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Hours 5 and 6 of working on the weekend have taught me the value of my time and how little that matters when you are this far behind. 02:33 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Apparently I am missing that part of your brain that tells you "You are signing up for too many social networking sites." 01:42 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Mary says we need the Christmas album - What's in that bag? by Chuck Levell (sp?) 12:15 PM December 08, 2007 from web   


• I am trying to get into sports after 30+ years of not caring... send me help! 11:55 AM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Listening to DaveFM's "Call to Auction." Some good music today... Nobody here at the office to critique my air guitar today... 11:53 AM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Hour 3 of working on the weekend... A giant stack of faxes looms... My Saturday shrinks away into the ether... 11:28 AM December 08, 2007 from web   


• I can now post to twitter from my email... If I can add posting to twitter by scratching my elbow I will be complete. 10:54 AM December 08, 2007 from TwitterMail   


• Completed hour 2 of working on the weekend... No one has given me a cookie for doing so... I am sad... 10:35 AM December 08, 2007 from web   


• Going in to work today. Don't worry... I won't enjoy it. 08:04 AM December 08, 2007 from web   


• I am trying to get into sports after 30+ years of not caring... send me help! http://www.50states.com/spo... 02:32 PM December 07, 2007 from web   


• Thinking through the lineup for our Holiday Show Dec 29th... Out of town guests and a whole lot of food... 09:41 AM December 07, 2007 from web   


• Reading: "Escape from Cubicle Nation: Excellent reading for those paralyzed by fear of leaving their job" (http://tinyurl.com/366tzr) 07:15 AM December 07, 2007 from web   


• Reading: "Derren Brown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" (http://tinyurl.com/3dmjkf) 09:31 PM December 06, 2007 from web   


• Reading: "Cold reading - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" (http://tinyurl.com/gj6q5) 09:25 PM December 06, 2007 from web   


• Stumbling: : Dream: Trip to Scotland 08:48 AM December 06, 2007 from twitterfeed   
  Blogging: Music and Prickly Goo: Cold Hard Flash: Flash Animated Philosophy From South Park Cre.. http://tinyurl.com/22vkxu 12:09 AM December 06, 2007 from twitterfeed   


• On del.icio.us: Karwisch, Germany http://tinyurl.com/23e7ah 11:16 PM December 05, 2007 from twitterfeed   


• I am still awake. I need to be asleep. But I am still awake. Still. Awake. 11:03 PM December 05, 2007 from web   


• Thanks @Ed_Dale for turning me on to Derren Brown. Excellent. 10:07 PM December 05, 2007 from web   


• Finally feeling more myself. Makes the job more bearable and easier to function. Hooray! 04:33 PM December 05, 2007 from web   


• Feeling a little better. Dreading work tomorrow. Work does not go away when you go away... 08:17 PM December 04, 2007 from web   


• Went home ill. 05:04 PM December 04, 2007 from txt   
  One big error at work, two bottles of mountain dew, and no lunch break 01:57 PM December 04, 2007 from web   


• Cat, milano cookies and the heroes finale! 09:12 PM December 03, 2007 from txt   


• If you run out of peppermint tea, toss a couple of altoids into some lipton and it will taste like lipton with altoids in it. 03:46 PM December 03, 2007 from web   


• Fighting the urge to drift into a blissful slumber on my mouse pad. 02:26 PM December 03, 2007 from web   


• Reading Benjamin Carr's essay "Get busy dying." http://tinyurl.com/yqtmfo 11:42 AM December 03, 2007 from web   


• My brain is preparing for 2008. It doesnt realize how much 2007 we still have left. 10:08 AM December 03, 2007 from txt   


• Preparing for an awesome *almost winter* day! Might even have to pre-heat my car :) 07:19 AM December 03, 2007 from web   


• A night of tree dressing, Anne of Green Gables watching and a bowl of popcorn that was supposed to go on the tree but... we eated it... 11:09 PM December 02, 2007 from web   


• Our cats keep removing our tree skirt and drinking all the tree water! 07:31 PM December 02, 2007 from txt   


• I was told to read the book "Bird by Bird" from Merlin Mann. Trying to find a copy. http://tinyurl.com/24xzoo 05:36 PM December 02, 2007 from web   


• Watching "Life" on a Sunday afternoon... leftover Japanese for lunch and a full evening ahead with no plans! 01:44 PM December 02, 2007 from web   


• Realizing that "cat" and "act" are the same in a text message... see this tweet: http://twitter.com/karwisch... 01:43 PM December 02, 2007 from web   


• Enjoying a big breakfast, the sunday paper and a tuxedo act in my lap. 09:52 AM December 02, 2007 from txt   


• Playing white elephant gift swap at sapparo japanese restaurant in marietta. 08:33 PM December 01, 2007 from txt   


• Long talk, a cup me tea and a game me scrabble. 04:35 PM December 01, 2007 from txt   


• Here's a cool video of tablet pc's Crayon Physics Deluxe http://tinyurl.com/yo6hlg 02:03 PM December 01, 2007 from web   


• 1:22 and I am still in my pajamas. I love Saturdays! 01:23 PM December 01, 2007 from web 


• Reading: "Twitter Guide Part #5 - Twitter Tools | Web Applications | Caroline Middlebrook" (http://tinyurl.com/2bhtc2) 09:57 AM December 01, 2007 from web   


• Today we are decorating the tree!!! 09:46 AM December 01, 2007 from web   


• Going to bed. Great company... good movie... popcorn and soda... A nice night to take my mind off of work... 11:15 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• Infamous starring toby jones. More lively than capote and funnier so far. 09:50 PM November 30, 2007 from txt   


• Eating Dinner: A yummy dinner of pasta, cheese, sauce and ziti noodles... Yummy! 07:38 PM November 30, 2007 from Facebook   


• going home! Finally I am done done done. Ready for a completely free weekend (except eating Japanese on Sat mmmmmmm...) 06:22 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• chug-a-chuga... chug-a-chuga... chug-a-chuga... 05:52 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• underwriting... underwriting... underwriting... underwriting... underwriting... underwriting... underwriting... 05:09 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• mumbling "Game called on account of Brain." 03:17 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• trying to keep my brain from melting and running out of my ears... 03:09 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• working hard (hardly working apparently doesn't get as much done.) 01:19 PM November 30, 2007 from web   


• wanting to see SLEUTH by Anthony Shaffer... 11:02 AM November 30, 2007 from web   


• needing new business cards... 09:37 AM November 30, 2007 from web   


• clinging to the hope of sleeping in on Saturday... 08:43 AM November 30, 2007 from web

Suggestion: Create a villain...

(written stream of conciousness with no edits. please excuse grammar and typo's. based on a suggestion from the "audience")

Park benches are not the most comfortable of sitting places. To my dissapointment, young children do not run around my recliner at home so I must sacrifice my comfort for opportunity. You cannot kill a child if you cannot catch a child and you cannot catch a child if there are no children.

My eye has been on one particular child for weeks now. His pale blue eyes seem to be larger than his head and his chubby cheeks and fine blonde hair strike sharp against the backdrop of char grey trees and autumn leaves. He always wears the same tiny plaid jacket and he is easy to pick out of any crowd of tots... His mother dresses him in suspenders which he hates and he methodically removes his jacket every day, lowers the elastic straps to a dangling position before returning the jacket to his shoulders.

It is facinating to watch someone that you know you must kill... The longer you watch them... the longer you let them live... the more temptation to revel in that power of life and death exists...

He stands under the money bars and stares up. His face in a frown as he watches another child who is stronger, taller, more agile glide across the bars hand after hand in an almost effortless fashion. The face the boy makes as he glides for a moment juxtaposes itself against the displeased look of the small blonde boy. The moment frozen in time might make for a priceless piece of art, but of course no Gallery can truly hold something as pure as this moment. No picture could ever grasp the true essence of what was about to happen... of what I am about to do...

From my pocket I pull a set of photographs. I unstrap the rubber band that holds them together and flip through them... searching for the right inspiration to do what I needed to do...

The first picture helps me in no way... it is a picture of a pile of dust beside a plastic table table tent the cops use to show scale... it reads #4 and the pile shows itself to be about 6 inches high... It is too far removed from human form to cause any reaction in me at all...

The second picture does its job nicely... a group of small bodies lying in a heap... their eyes bulging out of their sockets and their twisted bodies bent in directions that bones do not go without breaking... I stare at this picture. I try to focus on the pain and anguish they felt just before they died... just before their lives were ripped from their vessels and left like a pile of rag dolls on the hardwood floor.

Quickly I flip through the series of the other 30 pictures... some piles of dust, some mangled masses... but I have already found my motivation and the rest is just involuntary movement of an absent mind...

As much as I want to jump from the bench and grab his tiny neck to squeeze with all of my might I must wait... I must be sure...

I let my emotions run wild while keeping my body in perfect stillness... I watch and wait... In the open like this I will only get one shot... I must be sure...

The young child has not moved from his position under the monkey bars... He still stands, still looks displeased as two taller children, different than their predesessor crawl across the top of the bars and then dangle their feet while trying to maintain balance... The blond boy squints in the sunlight but maintains his gaze on the happy boys on the bars...

As much as I hate to cut things too close... to test moments too far before acting, I must be sure he is the one... and that is when it happens... I can feel it... crawling across the ground and hanging low in the air I can feel the evil seeping outward... soupy acidic evil pressure pushes further until I can feel it in full... and I gain confirmation... I was right... I had finally found him... this was the boy...

I stood and moved quickly toward him and even as I moved I knew I might already be too late... I didn't think him capable of this in the open with so many people around but then it is hard to know the limitations of the most hideous horrible villain you ever knew who is also a 6 year old child...

From his tiny jacket pocket he pulled a stone... one of those perfect round skipping stones you find at the waters edge. To anyone else it would represent fun... joy... carefree days with a friend or your father skipping stones... but to him it was all he needed to destroy a life...

I was now in a sprint toward the boy hoping against hope that I would reach him before the stone left his hand and both of those boys were dead before they even fell from the monkey bars... His tiny arm cocked back... it would happen before I reached him... and so I shouted "Juuuuussttttiiiinnnnnnn!!!!"

He turned. His arm lowered. He stared at me as I ran. I saw his eyes clear now... Those are the eyes of the boy who had murdered 70 children... some he left in piles and some he burned in his father's kiln and then returned to their homes... There was my nemesis...

His face turned to slight shock... then to an almost knowing smile and his arm raised again... the stone had a new target.

(to be continued)

~Jim

Suggestion: Ooohh... Write a mystery!

(This entry was written stream of consciousness with no editing and was based on a suggestion from the "audience.")

It was midnight when I finally sat down at my desk in the corner where I would normally sit to knock out a few pages before sleep. The kids were tucked away and Marlo was reading in her sewing chair downstairs, quite content and in no need of my attention. With "Dunderblocks" recently completed I found myself back to brainstorming a new work.

For years the plots came easy to me and I had journals filled to the brim with ideas for my next novel with the promise of the well never running dry. It was usually just a matter of picking something promising from the tattered pages and fleshing it out over a week's worth of evenings. Now I found myself at the end of my notes... the ideas of my youth gone and no sign of the next around the bend... I cradled my head in my hands and for the first time in over 2 years I cried. Who would I be if I were not a writer? A father certainly... and a husband... a leader in our church and a mentor to an afterschool program... But what would I be for me?

"If this is not the end" I prayed quietly through my tears "then God, if it is your will, please open another door."

Several minutes of silence followed and then the sound of my study door creaking announced a tiny visitor. "Not now please Micah." I said as kindly as I could... "Daddy is crying and praying right now."

"I can't sleep" he said in a voice too cute to ignore. "Can I cry and pray too?" I tried to breathe and smile and then I wiped my face and motioned him over to sit on my lap. He crawled into place and looked up at me... his eyes squinched in what I could only assume was an attempt to cry with me. "What are we crying and praying about?"

"Daddy is scared Micah. He doesn't know what to write next and he is scared what that might mean." From the birth of my first son I swore that I would never be closed off to my children... I would always be honest and open with anything that I thought they could handle.

He bowed his head, squinched his eyes and we sat again in the silence that only this room could provide. Suddenly and with great energy and bright eyes he grabbed my shirt as if our faces were not close enough already... "OOh!" he said.

Seeing my startled response he calmed down as he was always instructed when he got hyper and he aimed and fired the thought again but with more control this time. "Ooh, write a mystery!"

I stared at him and felt a grin grow through my cheeks. "It doesn't work like that Micah. But thank you so much for helping me think."

"I think..." he persisted "That you should write a mystery. And it should be about someone who helps people find peace." And with that he hopped off my lap, turned, nodded firmly as if had just given me some tough love, and headed off toward his room. "Love you Daddy! 'night!"

"Goodnight Micah!" I laughed a little. It is hard not to when everything they say and do is that cute. I turned back to the desk and saw where my wife had laid out two fresh packs of post it notes and a sharpie marker for me. She knew my process as well as she knew my soul.

I unwrapped the first pack of post-it's and tucked the sharpie behind my ear... I did this out of habit... Out of impulse... Muscle memory doing its work... I uncapped the sharpie and on the first page I wrote "new." Pulled it free from the stack and stuck it on the wall. I stared at the pad... nothing else came... out of fear I wrote "Novel" and placed it next to its brother... I felt the tears starting to well up again... the uncertainty growing... and from a place of insecurity I wrote "mystery" on the next note... tore it free... "Help" then "Peace" then "Micah" and then I couldn't stop... "Boy" then "Detective" then "Christian" then "murder" and on and on...

I was up till 6am that morning... I couldn't stop myself... I used every post-it we had in the house and two sharpies went dry in the process...

And there it was. On my wall was another great novel begging to be worked into the page.

I made my way out of my study and heard the stirrings of life in the house... preparing for work and school... and I went to Micah's door and met him on his way to our hall bathroom... I picked him up, gave him a giant hug that I hoped said "thank you" and sent him off to wash the sleep out of his eye.

At my favorite spot on the front lawn I thanked God for being so swift in his work. Some might say it isn't possible that Micah's idea was from God. But I know that nothing is outside his reach. Nothing is too big for him. Miracles are like breathing to him, so why would an idea from a boy's lips just moments after I requested it be impossible?

I smiled and laughed and headed for bed and some much needed sleep.

~Jim

Suggestion: Flotation Devices

(This entry was written stream of consciousness with no editing and was based on a suggestion from the "audience.")

When I was a kid if you wanted to ride in the boat or even get in the lake you had to have a life preserver. The moment I turned 12 years old it became my new responsibility to get these flotation devices for myself and the younger children... I was proud to have grown into this new responsibility and walked with great enthusiasm to the storage shed at the top of the hill to gather 6 belts and share them with the masses. What I did not know yet was what utter horror would face me on the other side of the shed door. As I swung the aluminum hinged portal open, pulled the light and stepped through the threshold my face was met with the largest hornets nest I have ever seen. I don't know if you've ever gotten a good look right at a hornet emerging from a giant nest, but it shook me to my very bones.

I screamed... it was a girlie scream and it was long and it was loud and it lasted all the way down the hill and to the lake and into the water for safety...

The children who had been waiting for their vests ran after me, all with their own little screams and all heading toward the same water... as I surfaced from the water and saw their short little legs running down the hill and the hornets hovering above I was met with a very life and death based problem... Those kids were all about to jump into the water without vests on which was my new responsibility... but if they didn't jump in they were probably going to get stung (at least one of them flailing about like that was going to get stung... you just know it) and so, I did what anyone in my situation would do... I spread my body out and tried to collect as many tiny people as possible on my arms and legs. This did 2 things... It got them into the water but not enough to submerge themselves to evade the hornets and it showed me that holding 5 little children with your arms and legs will very effectively sink you to the bottom of the water and they will panic and they will not let you up for air.

And so... Nobody got stung. Nobody drowned. Nobody got in trouble.

My Grandfather grabbed a can of wd40 or something of the like and without fear or trepidation, he killed all dem hornets dead where they nested...

~Jim

Music and Prickly Goo

Cold Hard Flash: Flash Animated Philosophy From South Park Creators: Flash animation news and links

Ok Gents. Watch this one... I think I might have to apply these to long-form improv very soon...

Powered by ScribeFire.

Music and Prickly Goo

Cold Hard Flash: Flash Animated Philosophy From South Park Creators: Flash animation news and links

Ok Gents. Watch this one... I think I might have to apply these to long-form improv very soon...

Powered by ScribeFire.

16 Rules... From profitwar.com

This is an interesting set of rules from profitwar.com

Here are the 16 rules I try to live by

Here are the 16 rules I try to live by:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think. There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what the Union Civil War general, Tecumseh Sherman said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems. You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time."

Powered by ScribeFire.

485!!!

485 - THIS SATURDAY Night

Saturday
at 9:30 pm at the relapse theatre in midtown - come check out 485. This
is our first performance as a trio and we are pumped about playing. We
are sharing the night with Free Kittens & Canvas All Stars ( a team
I play with too!).

The Show is only $5!!! Check out Jackpie for directions and details - www.jackpie.com.

Classes start at the end of September - check 'em out! Information is on the website. Come play!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Go Bananas!

Go Bananas!

Go Bananas!

by Darlene McFarlane, Aug 14, 2007

What could be better than this completely natural pharmacy! It is compact, healthy, easy to carry, and easy to use. So why not go bananas? It's good for you.

Not only does the banana taste wonderful, it also has an abundance of sucrose, glucose, fructose and potassium. It is rich in fiber and contains 5 times the vitamin A found in apples and 4 times the pectin. The banana is able to boost energy, and is a safe preventative against many ailments. Below is a list of reasons why you should have a closer relationship with the banana.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Suicide Jumper from improv anywhere

Suicide Jumper

Man I love these guys!!!

16 Rules... From profitwar.com

Here are the 16 rules I try to live by

Here are the 16 rules I try to live by:1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think. There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide. Remember what the Union Civil War general, Tecumseh Sherman said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems. You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously. Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile. Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time."

Powered by ScribeFire.

Four Ate Five

 

485 - THIS SATURDAY Night

Saturday
at 9:30 pm at the relapse theatre in midtown - come check out 485. This
is our first performance as a trio and we are pumped about playing. We
are sharing the night with Free Kittens & Canvas All Stars ( a team
I play with too!).

The Show is only $5!!! Check out Jackpie for directions and details - www.jackpie.com.

Classes start at the end of September - check 'em out! Information is on the website. Come play!

Go Bananas!

Go Bananas!

Go Bananas!by Darlene McFarlane, Aug 14, 2007

What could be better than this completely natural pharmacy! It is compact, healthy, easy to carry, and easy to use. So why not go bananas? It's good for you.

Not only does the banana taste wonderful, it also has an abundance of sucrose, glucose, fructose and potassium. It is rich in fiber and contains 5 times the vitamin A found in apples and 4 times the pectin. The banana is able to boost energy, and is a safe preventative against many ailments. Below is a list of reasons why you should have a closer relationship with the banana.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Suicide Jumper from improv anywhere

Suicide Jumper

Man I love these guys!!!

 

 

 

 

Text message explosion!!!

For any of you who tried to contact me over the weekend, please accept my apologies! Here is the story with the reason why you couldn't reach me...

On Saturday, just before a trip to the Container Store with my wife Mary, I installed Thunderbird on my home computer and attached it to our various email accounts. My hope was to keep better tabs on incoming messages without flipping from account to account. Everything worked perfectly and I had it up and running in a matter of minutes. With a smile on my face I headed out to car and we were preparing to be on our way when my text message alert went off on my phone. Glancing at my phone I saw my usuall "You have 1 new message" alert on the front display. Before I could even open the clamshell to see what it was, the numbers began to run upwards rapidly until finally "You have 30 new messages" and then "Inbox Full!"

I opened the first message and it was an email to me from Brad Kloth from over a year ago. The others were the same... year old email messages... to my phone... by text message. I knew immediately that Thunderbird had something to do with it but I couldn't think what exactly because I hadn't set any forwarding parameters within the program. Then it hit me... over a year ago I had set up my T-mobile online account to forward my gmail messages to me. This was back when I wanted to be kept up to date by the minute... Unfortunately I never got it to work. Over the last year I probably tried 3 separate times to get it to run properly but it never did. I then just gave up on it as a feature that was not compatable with my phone. Now, here I am many many months later and I am getting an alert for every email that I have received on my gmail account SINCE I OPENED IT! Oh yes, it wasn't just the last year or so of emails, oh no. That would be too simple... the T-moble service that was somehow awakened by Thunderbird could not tell the difference between gmail's "All mail" and gmail's "inbox" and so it was sending me everything I had ever recieved since early in 2005.

I jumped online and de-activated the account through t-mobile, cleared the messages from my phone and un-installed thunderbird until I could figure out how to stop this.

Every time I cleared the text messages more would pour in. I called t-mobile directly to find out what was happening and they told me that I was not going to be charged for them but that I was going to have to wait it out.

And so it began... Every couple of minutes my phone would flip out and ring like crazy, then alert me like crazy that my inbox was full and then go crazy again because I had messages waiting. Eventually I just turned the ringer to silent and checked the phone every 10 minutes or so to clear out the messages and allow the next 30 of them to come through. 30 at a time, they just kept coming... and coming... and I as missing calls from people... because all of the alerts would pile up on each other and wig out my phone...

Needless to say I have now received again every email that I have ever received by gmail through my cell phone. Fabulous feature this email alert from T-mobile. I'll have to write them a thank you for such commitment to their service. *ugh*

~Jim

Fwd: ANMD upcoming shows!

Hey Peeps:

Here are a few shows coming up and a little "news" at the bottom. So scroll
down if you want more.
We have figured out a few things we like as a band, and we love opening and
prefer it to headlining.
So that's pretty much all we want to do for a while. And we're not playing
Atlanta any more than
once a month. So if you hit up either of these shows, be prompt b/c we play
first. Which is great
for you b/c if you can't stick around for the rest of the show, you can
still get in early enough to get
sleep before work the next day... or go out somewhere else!

Wed. 4/18
Cliterati Atlanta presents...
PRETTY IN PUNK
Anna NicoleMiner's Daughter
w/My Siamese Self & Can Can
Doors @ 9pm
The Earl <http://badearl.com/>
tickets available on-line
here<http://zerotec.cybrhost.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?AFFIL=464O0PaF&Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ztec001&Category_Code=venue_Earl>
21 and up

Fri. 5/18
Anna NicoleMiner's Daughter
w/Rock City Dropouts & Black Daniels
Doors @ 9pm
<http://www.tenhighclub.com>The 10 High <http://www.tenhighclub.com>
21 and up

Quick News:
1. In June, we are playing @ SpringWater in Nashville, where Jimmy Hendrix,
Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash have all graced the stage. Thrilled about
that.
2. An internet/satellite radio station approached us, love us and we're
working out the specifics for them to put ANMD into heavy rotation!!! They
also asked me to
do 'liners' for them. You know, "This is Jen Caldwell from Anna
NicoleMiner's Daughter and you're listening to..." I can't disclose the
station or details yet but it's
pretty rad. And weird! And they will be interviewing the whole band
sometime soon! More to come on that as it unfolds!
3. Because of the above news, we're pushing up studio time and will
hopefully be completing the last 4 songs for our 'album' in late April or
early May.

Thanks for reading this far, if you did! If you didn't, I don't care
anyway. It's just for people who are interested. So if you weren't, you
aren't. Reading this now.
Right!? Are you there!?

Okay. Bye!

Jen Caldwell

Fwd: ANMD upcoming shows!

Hey Peeps:

Here are a few shows coming up and a little "news" at the bottom. So scroll
down if you want more.
We have figured out a few things we like as a band, and we love opening and
prefer it to headlining.
So that's pretty much all we want to do for a while. And we're not playing
Atlanta any more than
once a month. So if you hit up either of these shows, be prompt b/c we play
first. Which is great
for you b/c if you can't stick around for the rest of the show, you can
still get in early enough to get
sleep before work the next day... or go out somewhere else!

Wed. 4/18
Cliterati Atlanta presents...
PRETTY IN PUNK
Anna NicoleMiner's Daughter
w/My Siamese Self & Can Can
Doors @ 9pm
The Earl <http://badearl.com/>
tickets available on-line
here<http://zerotec.cybrhost.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?AFFIL=464O0PaF&Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ztec001&Category_Code=venue_Earl>
21 and up

Fri. 5/18
Anna NicoleMiner's Daughter
w/Rock City Dropouts & Black Daniels
Doors @ 9pm
<http://www.tenhighclub.com>The 10 High <http://www.tenhighclub.com>
21 and up

Quick News:
1. In June, we are playing @ SpringWater in Nashville, where Jimmy Hendrix,
Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash have all graced the stage. Thrilled about
that.
2. An internet/satellite radio station approached us, love us and we're
working out the specifics for them to put ANMD into heavy rotation!!! They
also asked me to
do 'liners' for them. You know, "This is Jen Caldwell from Anna
NicoleMiner's Daughter and you're listening to..." I can't disclose the
station or details yet but it's
pretty rad. And weird! And they will be interviewing the whole band
sometime soon! More to come on that as it unfolds!
3. Because of the above news, we're pushing up studio time and will
hopefully be completing the last 4 songs for our 'album' in late April or
early May.

Thanks for reading this far, if you did! If you didn't, I don't care
anyway. It's just for people who are interested. So if you weren't, you
aren't. Reading this now.
Right!? Are you there!?

Okay. Bye!

Jen Caldwell

Duke lives under the bus.

Duke Lives Under the Bus (NOW 485)

Duke lives under the bus (now 485) - Possibly the worst photo ever taken.

Airplane Carry On Kit... this just makes me laugh...

Airplane Carry On Kit... this just makes me laugh...

Chemikal Gumbo - Currently in Level 2

Chemikal Gumbo - Currently in Level 2

Are you a nerd?

No. I'm not a nerd. I'm a geek. You see, when a geek can't get any of the answers right on the nerd test, he heads into photoshop and alters his number so that he wins in the end.

If you want to try the test yourself just click here

Are you a nerd?

No. I'm not a nerd. I'm a geek. You see, when a geek can't get any of the answers right on the nerd test, he heads into photoshop and alters his number so that he wins in the end.

If you want to try the test yourself just click here

Maddie

Maddie is our nine month old tuxedo kitten. I used to think I was a dog person. Now i know that I was very very wrong.

Maddie Cat

Maddie is our nine month old tuxedo kitten. I used to think I was a dog person. Now i know that I was very very wrong.