About me

I'm a geek working as a distance learning specialist for a large corporation.

My Pandora "radio station" profile
This is my favorite way to listen to music now.

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(Unfortunately, only works in IE.)

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TIDBABSH the second, part the first

Last month’s podcast was such a great success that I decided to do another one.

When I say it was a great success, I mean that it was successfully uploaded and at least three people were able to download and listen to it. I make no statements about the actual quality of the content (though those 3 people who admit to hearing it seemed to enjoy it (which reminds me, your payments will be sent . . . → Read More: TIDBABSH the second, part the first

Shocking news! Distraction causes lack of focus!

Recently a study looked at students who had Facebook on (even in the background) while studying vs. those without Facebook use, and compared their grades. Facebook users came out with 20% lower grades.

As stated on MSNBC:

The psychologist said the study wasn’t about whether Facebook’s good or bad, but goes more to the stereotype that younger people are fluid multi-taskers —sending text message, listening to music, reading a book, all at the same time, . . . → Read More: Shocking news! Distraction causes lack of focus!

The myth of the solitary gamer

Over on The COA we’ve been talking about gaming experiences. To us geeks, that typically means video games, in case there’s any confusion. Though this wasn’t planned, throughout the articles and comments there has been a thread about the social aspect of gaming, and a sense that the rest of the world sees gaming geeks as hunkered down in their parent’s basements eating Cheetos with only their computer for company.

Sure, there are times when . . . → Read More: The myth of the solitary gamer

The Neo-Luddite Geek Technologist

“Dude,” (for some reason this conversation frequently begins with “dude”) “you’re the most technical person I know. How can you not even have a cell phone?”

This conversation (or a variation focusing on a different piece of technology) comes up in my life with some regularity. It happened again recently.

It’s true. I don’t have a cell phone.

(Well… technically, there is a cell phone that exists with my name on the account. But my . . . → Read More: The Neo-Luddite Geek Technologist

A colorful cavalcade of classical coolness

This excites me on many levels. It’s so simple, and yet so cool.

It’s not at all new either. In fact, there’s a multi-award winning film that uses something very similar in its most famous scene. (Comment below if you know what it is.)

What is it, and why does it excite me?

Don’t laugh.

It’s a bar graph.

Yes, seriously.

Wait, wait! Don’t go… it’s not just any old bar graph. This one moves. . . . → Read More: A colorful cavalcade of classical coolness

Tuesday TubeWatch: Minority Report to Sixth Sense to PHUD – Interface Advancement and Integration

In Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s character was able to interact with a very cool looking computer desktop that he could manipulate with special gloves just by waving his hands around.

Tom Cruise in Minority Report with a super-cool computer interface

Everyone wanted it. Then Microsoft created a table that was remarkably similar. You could move and resize digital pictures directly on the tabletop with just your fingers! The future was here!

But was it . . . → Read More: Tuesday TubeWatch: Minority Report to Sixth Sense to PHUD – Interface Advancement and Integration

What’s in YOUR browser?

My wife can’t figure out what I do online for hours at a time. I can’t blame her for being confused. Sometimes I don’t even know how so much time can go by before I get out of this chair and do something besides attempt to contract cancer from my monitor.

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what I’ve got open in my browser right now and see if that . . . → Read More: What’s in YOUR browser?

4 sites to get free/cheap stuff – finding deals online

Recently Gather Little by Little posted an article on “Deal of the day” sites, such as Woot.com and Yugster.com. These are sites that offer one product per day for a substantially reduced price. The merchandise, frequently reconditioned but at times new, is sold until their quantity runs out or 24 hours is up, whichever comes first.

I took a look at a few of the sites that GLBLGuy posted. Some I found useful, but most . . . → Read More: 4 sites to get free/cheap stuff – finding deals online

Tuesday TubeWatch: CommonCraft

CommonCraft videos make me want to hurt myself. I can’t help but think “why didn’t I think of doing this?”

Lee and Sachi have done a great job creating a successful company that uses simple tools to explain some rather complex topics, and they make the videos fun to watch as well (skip to the bottom for the funniest).

The trick, and where they excel, is taking those complex topics and boiling them down into . . . → Read More: Tuesday TubeWatch: CommonCraft

Three years of yammering on…

Three years ago today, at 11:48pm, I wrote these amazingly insightful words:

Check it out…

Friday, December 9th, 2005

Looks like I am officially blogging. I am too cool for words. (Ironic, isn’t it.)

Thusly did this, my first blogging experience, begin. Pretty sad, really, but there you have it. Now here we are, three years and over 400 posts later, and I figure it’s about time I looked back to see if I’ve ever . . . → Read More: Three years of yammering on…