Today's Library Grabs - Creative Process, Money Making, Music, and Economic Philosophy

I stopped by the library today to drop off a couple titles and pick up some books that I had on hold.  These are my latest additions to the "reading list".

"A Visit from the Goon Squad" is one of those picks that I just thought I would enjoy since the story is about an "aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs." set in the 70's San Fransisco music scene.











"If You Want To Write" takes a look at writing and the creative process.  This book was originally published in 1938, and I really enjoy finding these classic books and taking a glance back at the past to see how much, if any, things have changed in the present day.










Believe it or not, Trump's books have been on the list of books that I've really enjoyed.  Years ago I read his "Art of the Deal" and loved the book.  Even if you don't care for his personality or tactics, it's hard to argue whether he's achieved a level of success most of us will only dream about.  He's also right up there with Gene Simmons in knowing how to market yourself and make money from your brand.  I picked this title up because I'm interested to see how he brings an idea to market and I'm hoping to learn a trick or two.







Yes - a second Trump book in the same trip!  This one focuses on wealth building and is an area that I could really use some help in.  I'm very intersted to see what "The Donald" has to say in this one and how it compares to other advice I've read.











`I'll admit that the title lead me to this book, I've been reading a lot of philosophical based titles lately.  This one will introduce me to the economic side of philosophy and ties several different modern thinker's ideas on the common subject of the search to understand how a capitalist society works.  The interesting thing about this book is it's a seventh revision by the same author that wrote the original book in 1953.  Each revision looking at the modern time and economic headlines and issues.  Although this revision is a bit dated, I'm still excited to read it.

Houston... We Have A Problem! eBook Formats and Delivery Channels.

My arms are tired.

Yes - you read it right... my arms are tired.  They are tired of lugging around all the books I'm reading right now.  "But Jason", you say... "you know the answer to your problem is a simple e-reader away!".  I'd agree with you on that... I was excited about picking up a Barnes and Noble Nook and then "the problem" hit me.  I don't own all the books I'm carrying around.  I've leveraged one of the best resources a community can give its residents - the public library!

So... to lighten my load, I'd need to purchase a reader, and then purchase the titles from content providers like Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Both of these main providers have proprietary formats which you need to use their software applications or hardware solutions to read the books you purchase.

Well - I don't want to purchase all of the books I'm reading right now!  I have access to a good majority of all of the worlds print, all that we have learned and that which has been passed on in written word and translated through the ages by simply showing my library card.  Now all I would like is to have all that information at my fingertips... without paying for it... in electronic format... on a device that won't tire my arms.  Why are you looking at me like I'm asking for a lot?  :)

There is already a format out there which is an open reader format - ePub.  Sure - it's not a perfect standard, but I think if there was a push for this to be a widely accepted standard that it could be improved upon and would eventually fit the need.

In the same way that I try to solve most of my problems, I start with a quick search to see what is out there.  What I found was that there are several sites that have books that are public domain published online for you to read.  If you'd like to read some of Plato's written work, you can. But, I'm having a harder time finding some of the later titles that I'm currently reading out on the "free" web.  I have to believe that this is because of some publishing rights / distribution rights issue.  Now I'm questioning how the library does it though... I can just as easily purchase a copy of any of the best sellers from Amazon right now, wait for it to arrive and bring it to my library and donate it.  With the purchase of that one copy, all members in my community and across Michigan can now enjoy that book, right?  Well - maybe... I need to research this a bit more...

While starting to research the e-books rights questions, I stumbled across what I think is a pretty good scam.  There are sites out there like http://e-library.net/ that will sell you e-books with "resell rights" saying that when you buy them you have the right to resell them and even use any of the content as your own and repackage and sell your own e-book.  I think what these are are really just crappy articles with a few good tips.  I can see writers using this to beef up their own books with content that was not really written by them, but that feels kind of "dirty" to me.
  
Here is the link to the Internet Public Library which list free resources for texts and audio on the web, but these are things that have moved into public domain and won't cover many of the things that I'm reading.

The New York Public Library looks like they have a section of ePub books ready for download and enjoyment on your mobile device... now we're getting closer...ah, but wait.  It's powered by "OverDrive", and I remember this name from my local library.  OverDrive is a service that you can sign up for, download their software call the OverDrive Media Console and then you can access some of the online content that your local library has available in the form of e-books or audiobooks.  A very cool idea... but still not what I'm looking for... it seems like a digital rights management company for certain media... and actually - it is!

And it looks like OverDrive isn't the only option for digital media publishing - there's also NetLibrary.
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I like this idea - but I'll be honest... it seems like the BMI / EMI / ASCAP etc, of the electronic book industry.  Don't get me wrong - if I'm the author of an e-book that I want distributed across many channels, including public libraries, this is going to be a great way to get my content out there and managed.  I'll likely come back to this when I have the need for such a thing, but today's issue is about something else...

Maybe this "something else" doesn't exist yet?  Maybe the cost for the infrastructure is too great to ever accomplish such a thing?  Maybe the digital rights management of all existing and new content is far too complex to manage through a single system? Maybe I'm chasing a dream that will never come to be....

I guess what I'm looking for is something similar to digital curation with a standard easily deployed format and distribution channels that allow that content to be delivered easily to today's devices, at no or limited cost to the consumers.  Perhaps "fresh" content wouldn't be added to this freely available resource until a determined timeframe on the sales channels... let's say a year or 18 months?

The current problem I see is that I can and do have easy access to books through my public library.  All of these books are not in e-book format, although if they were, I would like to be able to have access to them just as I do right now.  If I want to move completely to the e-book market, I have to choose a distribution channel that has the rights to publish the content I'm looking for to my reader or custom software has to be loaded on my device so that I can read what I purchase.

The question is - how do we move to a platform that allows for all content to be shared easily and to any device?

Let's discuss - maybe there are methods that I don't know about yet.
Let's collaborate and build this platform together.

The world's knowledge should be free to anyone who has the curiosity and passion to learn.

*image from stock.xchng - the best royalty free website around.  Photo by Lusi

Lost In The Books... But Really Feeling Enlightened

I have been reading a lot lately!  No really... I read when I first wake up in the morning, read while eating my lunch at work and read when I get home from work, right up until I go to sleep at night.  What has been keeping my attention you ask?

The first of the books is "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley.  This book was suggested by a friend and he had said that it would "blow my mind" and it basically has...  it's quite an interesting read and really sets out to answer the question "Why Sex?". Why is that the method that we use and why do we partake in this as a pastime more than mainly to procreate?  It's a really interesting book and it pulls from a ton of different research done by various scientists across all species in an effort to understand more about why we do what we do...
 

In the first part of the book he talks about genes and that the primary goal of the two sexes are to exploit each other to procreate.  He calls out studies that show that it's about gene survival and passing on to future generations.  He notes that sex is just our way of gene blending.  Each of our cells is made up of 150,000 genes (pairs of 75,000) spelled out on 23 ribbons of chromosomes.  At the point of conception, a man can choose to take all 75,000 from our mother or 75,000 from our father to pass along, but usually it's a mixture of the two and each sperm will contain that 75,000 genes to be passed along. The woman's egg will also contain 75,000 genes made up from what her parents passed on to her.  The two will come together to make a full 150,000 (pairs of 75,000).  Meaning that we have an equal amount of our parents genes and their parents genes that have been passed along to us.  There are many other things that will happen along the way, but it goes far too deep into what I want to get into here.  The interesting point to me was genetic make up of our cells, and how this may affect the characteristics that evolve through us as we grow. 

Enter the next book, "The Biology of Belief" where Bruce Lipton puts out the idea that cells and outer influences on them, including our positive or negative feelings can change the way they evolve and well... you've got yourself a couple of very interesting reads and a bunch of questions to research deeper to understand more about the inner workings of the human body, mind and spirit!

So these books and several others have been keeping my attention and have left me scratching my head a bit as well.  Both give some interesting insight on "love" that I'll have to follow up on, research and post my thoughts on as a follow up post to my "Is Love Real?" post.

I've been wishing that I had more time to post about some of the creative aspects of what's been going on in my life, but for now reading is taking up the majority of my time outside of work.  I'm ok with this though, as I feel like I've been learning so much about how people "work".  It's been great!

I've also picked up a couple books suggested by our CEO as good reads and I'm making my way through "The World Is Flat", but I must admit, reading this 3 years after it was written / updated is kind of like trying to teach someone how to draw after they graduated with their Masters in Art.   :)

On with the learning... bring on the books!

Leveraging Your Dreams For Creative Inspiration

This year I've read a couple books that talk about dreams and the unconscious mind.  The first I read was "The Undiscovered Self" by Carl Jung.  In the book it mentions that Jung was a follower, believer of Sigmund Freud's studies around the unconscious and that early on they were friends.  Apparently Sigmund didn't take too kindly to those to studied his work closely and then started to have their own opinions that may vary or move in a different direction than his original ideas.  Jung and Freud parted ways around 1912. The Jung book peaked an interest in me to find out more about Freud and his ideas.  What I found was a man that wasn't afraid to dive inwards and analyze himself to the fullest extent possible so that human kind might understand and benefit from the information shared. I'm finding that much of the information that he shared has either been built upon and understood more fully or cast as having flaws and pushed aside.

One of the areas that I found very interesting is that Freud would analyze his own dreams.

From Wikipedia: "Freud called dreams the "royal road to the unconscious". This meant that dreams illustrate the "logic" of the unconscious mind. Freud developed his first topology of the psyche in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899) in which he proposed that the unconscious exists and described a method for gaining access to it. The preconscious was described as a layer between conscious and unconscious thought; its contents could be accessed with a little effort."

I've been using a method to capture my dream content over the past several months.  If I have a vivid dream and I awake, I instantly reach for the computer / my handheld phone and type as much about the dream and the surrounding as I possibly can remember.  The more detail the better as when I read it the next time, I'll be able to get myself back to that dream and the memories in it, while I'm in my conscious state.  I can replay the dream and either analyze it, or just use the content for inspirational purposes.

One dream that I had back in April is the inspiration for a new fiction novel I am writing called "Hurt".

I've also written several songs with lyrics based on the content of my captured dreams.

In years past, I would have a dream, awake and then fall right back to sleep and when I tried to remember the content in the morning it was near impossible.  I've had much better results with the method I am now using and I am finding much more inspiration from the content than I ever thought that I would.

If you want to give this a try, put a pad of paper and a pencil or pen by your bed this evening.  When you awake through the night, jot down ideas that are in your head.  Just let your mind go free, don't censor the ideas, just write... most times I have trouble keeping up with my thoughts and getting all of them down on paper, but do the best you can... and then fall back asleep not even thinking about what you wrote.  The next morning, read over what you wrote, but don't judge or look for deeper meaning, there is plenty of time for that later.

I try to come back to my night writings three to seven days after and look at them in a more critical and constructive way.  What was going on at the time of the dream?  Was I under stress?  Was I in a positive or negative mood?  This is usually the time I'll look for a story in the night writings and I'll look for how to use my conscious imagination to fill in the blanks and come up with something to create or put into action.

I've learned much more about myself since I've been capturing these dreams.  Maybe you'll learn something about yourself that you didn't know.

Until next time, sweet dreams.  :)

The Next Level Challenge - August 2010

It's that time again and I need to work on challenging myself physically this month.  Last month I threw down a challenge to complete a 4 mile hiking trail by my house and I was able to accomplish this task.  Below is one of the pictures I took on the hike.

There is a larger trail that I could challenge myself to completing, but I'm not sure if I want to do that or perhaps look in another area to challenge myself.  Perhaps a bike ride?  Perhaps a longer walk?  Perhaps something else new?

I don't have much time, so I'll look to decide on something this week.

Mid Year Check In - 2010 - Part Two

Hello again, Hello!

In the first part of this post I spoke of my photography goals for the year.  Now it's time to take on the larger life goals that I set for myself on February 1st and see how I've done.

1. No more fast food.  Since January first I have not had any fast food.  To tell you the truth, I don't really miss it. Well I have had some fast food since February, but I can honestly say that I can count the times on one hand.  I'm still going very strong on this one and I think it's helped greatly with my weight loss that I've seen through the year.
2. Workout every weekday before work.  In January I managed to do this and work up from a thirty minute workout each weekday to my current workout which is one hour.  Although I haven't lost any weight, I'm ok with it, as the goal that I made was to get up and workout every weekday morning in January and I did it!  This will continue into February. Although this did continue through February, in March some things happened that really de-railed this goal.  I have since adjusted my thinking and my overall weight loss goals to be more in-line with a life change instead of working out everyday and burning myself out.  I am still working out regularly, so I think I'm doing just fine on this goal and I'm on track to lose 75 lbs by the end of the year.
3. Dive back into the technical side of things on the web world and re-learn Flash and Flex.  I've done a great deal and even completed my first freelance job in January.  I'm back folks. I was back - and now I have some ideas, but I haven't executed them.  Fail.
4. Post a blog entry per day every day of 2010.  If you've been following, then you know I've managed to do this through January as well! This is another fail, but I feel that I've been doing a much better job and I think the real goal of this should be to keep posting as it will help me improve my writing skills and since I enjoy it, there is no reason to stop, right?
5. Begin immersing myself into technology and business by reading more and listening to podcasts instead of music on the way to work.  Done. And Done - I still do this and have found that this has been a great source of ideas and inspiration both physical and mental.
6. Start to take my photography hobby a bit more seriously and learn more about the art and what makes a good picture.  I'm well on my way for this one, I do have lots to learn though, but I think it will be great.  If you've seen my Photography Goals for 2010 then you know just how much work I have ahead of me. I'm working on this one and the goals I've set forth for myself.
7. Cut down on going to the bar.  I've cut this back quite a bit and what I've found is that I like being at my house and feeling productive.  Go figure. I quit drinking for good as of March 16th.  I've learned from experience and from reading that this type of habit will lead to nothing good, in fact it actually helped put me in some situations that I would have not rather experienced.
8. Re-learn French.  I'm proud to say that with the help of Rosetta Stone, January has seen me make it through the first Unit of French.  There are four units per level and I plan to make it through a unit per month.  There are five levels total. As of March I stopped taking the French course, I will promise myself to begin this again before the end of August and complete the first level before the end of the year.
9. Take a moment or two to do a mental health check on myself.  Work on building self-esteem and self-confidence.  Courses like "The Psychology Of Achievement" and a couple from David DeAngelo have been helping out on that front.  I'll look to continue with these classes in February. This is an area that I've really dove into head first.  (no pun intended) and I've started studying the mind and why people do the things they do, what motivates us and how to be more socially confident. 
10. Launch a local user group.  I have been given the ok from Adobe to try to launch the Chelsea Adobe User Group. I look forward to this challenge and I'll that I'll learn by doing it. Still on the list, and I'm working on it.

 So out of the ten goals - I'm doing six well.  I think that's pretty good.  I'll keep working on the others and set some new goals to shoot for before the end of the year.  These will focus around my career and relationships.

Let the fun begin and Happy Birthday to me!

Creating A Photo Book - Part One

One of my many goals for this year is to find a way to share my photography in multiple media formats.  I would classify myself as a hobby photographer, with lots to learn about the craft.  It really is an artform, however my method is much more "point and shoot".

I had decided that I wanted to make a photo book, so I did some research and came across LuLu.com.  This site makes it very easy for you to create an eBook, or Photo Book, and more!

I decided to use their service to create a photo book of some of my favorite pictures over the past couple years.

I started by using their tool to create the Photo Book and then it hit me... I hadn't yet organized the photos I wanted to go in the book!  At first this seemed like an easy task, but I want this book to tell a story.  I want each picture to really be worth a thousand words and to strike up emotions of the whole experience when I look back on these in ten years.

What I had realized was that this was going to take some thought and effort.

My first step has been to reach into my collection of photos and go through picking out my favorite shots.  Those pictures that jumped out at me.

My next step will be to fine tune those pictures and make sure that they are print ready.  By print ready, I mean that they are at least set to 300 dpi and have any effects on them that I think make them tell the story better.

I am going to pick fifty of my favorite pictures and then will use LuLu to publish a book of the photos.  I will likely also order a book for my Mom and I'll make the link available for anyone else who would like to check the book out. I may even pick my favorite twelve and make myself a 2011 Calendar, the possibilities are endless!  LOL.

I'll post any other thoughts along the way.

Have you ever done a Photo Book / Scrapbook?  What is your favorite part of the process?

Living Simple Is Easier Said Than Done

I really have been taking a look at how many things I have and I've been trying to cut down on the number of material assets, making sure that I only have what I want and use regularly.  Remember this post?

Well - then I went back home to Windsor and emptied out the storage unit where I kept quite a bit of things after we sold the house.  In one quick swoop, I added more items than I had already gotten rid of, and now I need to sort through these and get rid of them as well.

I now know that this is going to take me well into next year before I'm at a stage where I feel like I'm making progress.

This Perfect Day

Sometimes I jot thoughts down on my Blackberry phone.  While walking on the hiking trail near my place I wrote this down, a friend of mine suggested that I make sure I get credit for it, so I posted it on Lulu Poetry.

This perfect day
I did not waste
I marveled at her beauty
Stood in a shadow of her grace
I said a prayer
A thank you was all I could say
For such a perfect time
On this perfect day

I Just Want To Read The Book!

I've been reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" and have been really enjoying it.  It solidifies some of the things I've been learning lately and really drives home the fact that we can obtain any dream if we believe that we can and have a burning desire to obtain it.

As I'm reading through the book I came across a poem that the author references, which after some research I found to be "My Wage" by Jessie Rittenhouse.  It's a fantastic poem, so I'll quote it below.

My Wage
I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.
~ Jessie Rittenhouse

This poem really hit home.  Life is what you make of it.  If you settle for what happens your way and never realize that you can have anything you desire, you're missing out on reaching your full potential.

This brings me to the reason for this post.  I was very interested in finding other Jessie Rittenhouse work and found that he was the editor for two books that seem to be a great collection of work from many authors called "The Little Book Of Modern Verse" and "The Second Book Of Modern Verse".  As I looked through the authors in these collections my heart raced and I knew I had to get these and read them.

Now the first place I would look for such books would be the library.  I've come to learn to use this first as it's the lowest cost option and is an excellent resource.  Unfortunately the library did not have a copy of either collection, in fact none of the libraries in the Library Network (a collection of Michigan based libraries) had it either!  I was a bit disappointed.  In a case like this, my next resource will be Amazon.com or eBay.  I ended up find the first and second collection on Amazon.com, but take a look at the prices, they varied from $20 - $100!

Then I stumbled across the Kindle version of the books on Amazon.  Each of them was listed at $4.99!  What a great deal!

The next thing that crossed my mind was that I didn't have a Kindle to read it on. No worries, Amazon offers the Kindle Reader for PC as a free download.

Since I've been leaning towards picking up a Barnes and Noble Nook, I did a search and was disappointed to find that the Nook did not offer a PC version of their reader, so I may have to pick up the ebooks from Amazon.  This may lead me to end up purchasing a Kindle... nice job Amazon, you may have just pushed your way to the top of the list with this little feature!

I'm about to load the Kindle Reader for PC and I'll let you know how it turns out, but I am very glad that there is an affordable option for me to read these books!

Mastery : The Keys To Success And Long-Term Fulfillment

I picked up a new book for this month.  The title of the book is the subject of this post.

This book was recommended reading from one of the courses I'm taking.  It's also been an interesting topic to me as I've always been one of those instant gratification type people and have rarely put the effort forth to achieve mastery in any specific area.

One of my goals is to learn to play guitar.  I've taken several lessons from several teachers, but I'm hoping that some of the lessons from this book may shed some light on what areas I'll need to focus on to really make progress.

As usual - once I'm done reading it, I'll post up a review.

The Next Level - Personal Transformation Program

I'm at the beginning of a transformation, both mental and physical.

This has been a natural evolution for me in dealing with and understanding some things that have happened over the past couple years.

It's been a good experience so far and I'm working on documenting my milestones and what I'm learning as I reach each goal. I want to track my experiences and develop a program so that others may use the same methods to reach their goals. The reason I'm doing this is that I think that others may be able to benefit from what I'm now learning and wish that I had learned many years ago.

I'm using levels to track my progress and looking back on what I've learned from the previous level as I move to the next level.  I'll also plan out my own goals in each new level and review at the end to make sure that I've grown in some way. My motivation for using levels is because it is something I can easily relate to as a former video game addict. Goals are also easier to obtain when all requirements to move to the next level have been laid out in front of someone.  This is a similar method to earning belts in martial arts, except there won't be an exam at the end of each level.  Or maybe there should be?  :)

The program is still in development as I move through the levels myself, but here are some details that I've come up with so far.

There are four areas of focus in each level. As you progress through the levels you have lessons and things to put into practice in the four areas before you can move on to the next level. There is also a weight goal for each level.

The four areas are;

1. Diet and Eating Well
2. Mental and Emotional Growth
3. Physical Attraction and Outer Appearance
4. Activity and Exercise

There are ten levels total in the program.  The weight goal is based upon your personal long term goal.

This is not a program that will take months to complete, it's a life altering, pattern changing, growth program to help a person feel more overall satisfaction with life.

I believe that this program will work best for someone that is similar to me. Someone who has a lot of weight to lose, perhaps has a negative self concept, low confidence, is shy and hasn't mastered social interactions.

I'm pretty excited about this and will post more as I start to develop the program.  If you're wondering what level I'm currently on - I'm on Level 2 and I fully expect to be on Level 3 by the end of August.

If you have questions or feedback, feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Used Book Store Finds

It was my friends birthday yesterday.  We decided to hang out for the day and we ended up taking a trip up to Flint, MI.  One of the stops along the way was at a used book and CD shop.  Actually - they had everything, used books, comics, cassette tapes, CDs, Vinyl records and much more.

I spend a good part of the time searching through some of the old vinyl records and managed to grab the following;



Grabbing the three albums cost me $7, which I thought was a pretty great deal.

I moved on to the comic book section, which brought back some good memories, but I didn't drop any cash - which is a good thing, since I don't collect them anymore it would have just been a waste.



After that I noticed a very cool poem called "I AM MUSIC" - it was typed out on tattered paper and was taped to the end of one of the bookcases.



I stumbled across it with a Google Search, but it didn't seem easy to find.

I am Music, most ancient of the arts. I am more than ancient; I am eternal. Even before life began upon this earth, i was here - in the winds and the waves. When the first trees and flowers and grasses appeared, i was among them. And when humanity came, i at once became the most delicate, most subtle and most powerful medium for the expression of emotions.

In all ages i have inspired people with hope, kindled their love, given a voice to their joys, cheered them on to valorous deeds, and soothed them in times of despair. I have played a great part in the drama of life, whose end and purpose is the complete perfection of human nature. Through my influence, humanity has been uplifted, sweetened and refined. With the aid of humanity, i have become a Fine Art. I have a myriad of voices and instruments.

I am in the hearts of all and on their tongues, in all lands among all peoples, the ignorant and unlettered know me, not less than the rich and the learned. For i speak to All, in a language that all can feel. Even the deaf hear me, if they but listen to the voices of their own souls. I am the food of love. I have taught people gentleness and peace; and i have led them onward to heroic deeds. I am comfort for the lonely, and i harmonize the discord of crowds. I am a necessary luxury to all. I am MUSIC.

ANONYMOUS

I really liked this piece - it just hit home with me.

Now I started to notice the books, and found the following books;

A Century of Lyrics, 1550-1650

I had read most of the Dan Brown books and I thought I had read Deception Point, but after reading the description on the back - it didn't seem familiar.  It was such a low cost item, somewhere around $0.50, I figured I'd grab it.

The link above to the "A Century Of Lyrics" was a much cooler find for me!  This hardcover book is from 1938 by D.C. Whimster and it is the lyrics from 100 songs written between the years of 1550 and 1650.  I can't wait to dive into this book and analyze the lyrics of that time period as well as learn more about the authors of those songs.  That was a whopping $2.95 - which again - I'll call a steal!


All in all it was a great day... I also ended up grabbing the first and second seasons of Laguna Beach on DVD.  What can I say - I'm a sucker for those shows, and the ladies are hot!

Let me know if you've found any great bargains lately...

Mid Year Check In - 2010 - Part One

July 13th is the Day 194 of 2010.  We're more than half way through this year, isn't that hard to believe?

I thought it would be a good idea for me to take a look back at what I hoped to accomplish this year and make sure I'm on track to reaching my goals.

The first post was focused around Photography Goals for 2010.

Status: 

1. Although I haven't done a "picture per day" challenge yet, I have taken quite a bit of photos on my hiking trips this year.  The year is not done yet though, so I'll still try and do this before the close of the year. 
2. I did sit down and think about my goals for this year and prioritize what I enjoy most and I believe that is photos that can be framed and displayed as art.  My main area has been nature up till now, so I'm going to focus on getting some of my photos enlarged, matted and perhaps approach one of the local coffee shops to see if they'd be willing to let me try to sell them there.
3. Read a book per month?  Who the hell thought of this idea?  I've read more than a book per month, but not all on photography topics... oh well - I guess I can still accomplish this if I put my mind to it.
4. I completely forgot about this one.  When I did some initial searching I couldn't find any photography clubs that looked interesting enough to join.  I'll keep looking.
5. Sharing my work online - yes, this is still a goal I am planning on reaching.  I have a Flickr account setup and over the next several months I need to fine tune some work and get it up there for others to view.
6. Create two photo books for the year.  Well - I can definitely do one that focuses on the trails at the Waterloo Recreation Discovery Center.  This is another that I had kind of forgotten about and it's time to see if I can make this one a reality.
7. Get Published.  When I wrote this 5 months ago, I said "it's a good thing I have eleven months to figure out how to do this..." and I still don't have a clue.  We'll save this one for next quarter.  
8. Develop a post processing workflow - this one I've made progress on.  Using Lightroom I can now drop the photos from a photo shoot into a folder, browse through them and make minor edits using Lightroom, pop into Photoshop and make more edits and still keep the original picture in tact.  It's a great process which I'll look to keep.  Goal Accomplished.
9. Wow - I suck.  Ok - I still need to do the postcard thing.  I'll get this done this month, I promise myself. Goal Accomplished.
10. Take a Photo Workshop - this is still a great idea and I need to check out when the next Nikon School is coming to Ann Arbor.

Ok - so I've only got 1 out of 10 done on this list.  That's not great, but now I've done the check in and I know what I still need to do... and I can do it all, I still have time!

In my next post I'll cover my personal goals for 2010 and see how I'm doing on those...

Which eReader Is For Me?

I won't lie - I'm not an iPad fan. Before you throw things at me, let me explain.

I've held the device in my hand and although I do believe that it is very suited as a device in which you consume content, I do not believe that it is a device which can be easily used to create content.

The iPad will never replace my laptop.  It does not have the capability to run the software I use to create in any medium.

Let's start with what I think it would do spectacularly.

• Used as the information gateway for a high end hotel
• Used to deliver your photography portfolio to a high end prospective client
• Used as a way to collect survey information from high end clientelle
• Used to read newspapers / e-books

And - for the last reason, I'll include it as I look to purchase an e-book reader.

There are many other uses, but to be honest, I'll listen to my music on my i-Pod, I already have a contact / calendar application on my Blackberry and it syncs with my desktop computer at work.  I'm not going to "browse the web" for anything that would actually require interaction on the i-Pad, because interacting with the device itself is not all that great.  I'm not going to type emails and if I want to run an application that was made to run on my i-Phone, I'll likely do that there.  With that said - the display is great, which makes me think that it would do very well in any type of presentation format or perhaps when using it as a book reader.

Just before the iPad came out, I almost bought a Kindle from Amazon for this exact purpose.  I had been reading quite a lot of books lately and found that it might be nice to have them all stored electronically, rather than stacked up on my nightstand.  Of course, the thing that stopped me from buying was the buzz about the "Kindle Killer" and the fact that the Kindle did only one thing, but let's not knock it - it does it very well!

The idea of being connected all the time and being able to grab a new title in an instant made it very interesting to me.

As I started to learn more about the two products, other requirements started to come to my list.  I wanted to be able to support not only Apple or Amazon purchases, but other formats of e-books as well, such as the ePub format.

My list of possible readers narrowed to the following

Apple's iPad - $629 (w/ 3G Wireless at $60 per month)
Amazon Kindle 2 -$189 (w/ 3G for connecting / downloading books)
Barnes and Noble Nook - $199 (w/ 3G Wireless, no contracts)

Let's talk about the iPad - it's pros are pretty simple.  If you buy it with the 3G plan, you're all set to consume media of multiple types, you can surf the web, watch a movie, read a book, it really can do a lot. It also has a nice color display. My question came when I asked myself if I'm looking for a replacement for the other tools that I have to surf the web, answer email, watch a movie, etc.  My answer was it might be nice, but it's not worth the price tag.

The Kindle came next and the benefit to this was the amazing screen and of course, the access to the entire Amazon catalog of Kindle titles.  It also came with wireless connectivity which you didn't need to sign up for an additional contract through a service provider, unlike the iPad. The 3G connectivity would be used to download the books, and little more than that. The Kindle does have contracts in place to deliver some of the periodicals and newspapers through the interface and network supplied, but had no web browser. The Kindle comes in two formats and to be fair the 9 inch version clocks in around $379.

On to The Nook from Barnes and Noble.  This was a recent find and the thing that attracted me to it was that it had a partial color touchscreen display, 3G included, web browser and the Barnes and Noble catalog of books for the reader.  The price really makes this one attractive, but the downfall is that it's only available in the 6" display. One of the things that I liked about this is that it's tied to a major "book store" so they can do additional marketing to get people who end up purchasing one back into the book store for special offers.  For example, walk into a Barnes and Noble and special offers will be available on your Nook for view.  Barnes and Noble also has contracts in place for periodicals and newspapers, similar to the Kindle.

So - as I type this, I'm leaning toward heading into Barnes and Noble and checking out The Nook.  If I pick one up, I'll post a review as well as pictures up on here.

Are there any others that you'd suggest I check out or that you are looking into?

Lonely Little Me

Today has been an extra hard day dealing with this loneliness feeling that I've had with me for a bit now.  It's a hard feeling to describe, but I can see what I'm missing when hanging out with friends and their family.  The part that I don't have is the easy access to, or immediate connection with family or friends where I reside; the daily interaction that others take for granted.

The contact I'm talking about is that separate from the one of making social plans with friends.  I have that interaction and enjoy it when it occurs.  Then when friends part from the social activity, they go back to people that are their day to day interactions, such as the people that they live with or their family or very close friends that are over quite a bit. 

Since moving into my own place in 2006, and likely partially due to losing my father the same year, I've noticed an increase in feeling lonely. Before this, I had many friends and roommates to interact with, I rarely felt lonely.

However, I'm at a point right now where many of my friends are now married, or in relationships.  I've stopped drinking and therefore don't fill the void by socializing at bars near as much as I used to.  Now my days are filled at my house, reading, or watching movies, alone.

I think about my family a lot.  If I was back in Windsor, it could almost be expected that someone would stop by on a Sunday to say "hi" or for a visit.  Sure - they would call first, but it's not like it's a far distance to travel, family was always close by... and visited often.

Now, it's not that way at all.  I've seen my Mom three times this year.  That saddens me greatly... I love my mother, she's been there for me my entire life and I've learned so much from the love and lessons that she has given me.  I have other friends and family that I haven't seen since my dad passed.  Yup - 4 years this month. 

It's like the border has put a barrier in the way that is makes the effort just to the side of not worth it.  It's a very weird phenomenon.  I could just as easily be in France, or London and the contact would be similar.

I think of the days when I was back in Windsor and how I saw some friends every day!  I didn't even live with them, they were just my best friends.

Loneliness is a weird thing.  I don't fear it, and there are times when I absolutely enjoy it.  Being alone and in the type of environment that I'm in can re-charge the soul.  My question then becomes, "what do I do when I'm re-charged?"

The answer up until now has been to head back to work.  I've fallen into a cycle of letting work stress me out, and then finding time to re-charge while at home.  Rinse. Repeat.  There is not much to my life outside of this cycle and I begin to wonder how much longer I will allow it to go on.

My goals are to live a happy life.  A life full of experiences.  It's hard to do this by yourself and sometimes it's much more rewarding to share those experiences with someone else.

So what is the point of this post?  Hell if I know - I just figured I'd babble on about things while trying to figure out how to deal with the feeling of being alone.

If I Only Knew Then...

I think this year has been my year of self discovery.  I've read more books from January through now than I've read in the past ten years and each of them has been picked up with a goal of exploring an area of life that I've paid little attention to before.  It has been a great and challenging year so far and I've found myself mumble the saying "oh, if I only knew then what I know now...", perhaps this is a saying that you've also used or heard in the past?

My questions to you are -

1. If you were going to give your life's advice to a young person today, what lesson would you tell them that you've learned?  
2. What pebble of wisdom do you wish you would have found earlier in life?

Is Love Real?

And, in the end, the love you take
Is equal to the love you make. ~Paul McCartney

I've been thinking about love quite a bit lately and wondering if there is such a thing.  I wonder whether there can really be a bond of feelings so strong between two people that are not blood related?

I do understand the love that a Mother will have for her offspring.  This makes sense to me and is evident across all of nature although mostly in mammals. A Mother will protect it's young at any cost as she has a vested interest in them, they are from her body, they are part of her. 

The male of the species has two goals, to survive, and to procreate. I'll dig in deeper and find references for this statement, but these are the general goals.

According to dictionary.com the definition of the word runs all the way from "a profound, tender, passionate affection for another person" to "enthusiasm, or liking for anything".  That's a pretty wide range!  No wonder I'm searching for what love really means.  It looks like the word has become overused for many different meanings through the years.

I stumbled across the origin of the word love and found it quite interesting.  Especially that it did not really come into use with relationships until around the 17th century.

In our modern society we usually relate the term "in love" with two people that are in a committed relationship.  This relationship usually happens through the game of courtship where the female will eventually choose the male, testing him at each phase.

The five phases of courtship are Attraction, Non-verbal Communication, Verbal Communication, Physical Touch, and ending in Sex.

The game is pretty simple when broken down and females will test the male's worthiness at each level to find out if they will "make good offspring" and can provide for them and their offspring.  There is no denying what I mentioned above, the female will make the decision to move through each phase, however the male can do things to build a strong sense of attraction to better the odds in his favor. It really is a game...

This is human nature kind of stuff, that happens and sometimes it's without us noticing.

There are some interesting articles out there that talk about couples that have been in relationships for a long time and still feel the same way about their mate as when they were going through the courtship phases. That, along with my personal experience of seeing couples stay together for long periods of time makes me think that there is "something", but I start to wonder whether this "something" is really just the attraction factor to that person and nothing more?  Think of all the couples who get together and get married, only to get divorced, some multiple times.  I bet every one of them would tell you they were "in love" at some phase of courtship.

My question comes back to me - Is Love Real?  If these things are programmed into us in our animal forms, then what is love and is there even such a thing?


I'll continue to research this and see if there really is such as thing as love or if love is really just an extreme side of a feeling, such as obsession with someone / something. 

What I do know as a fact is that one who is "in love" and going through the feelings that come with this generic term, can easily be influenced to believe that which is not true or does not exist in reality.  Which makes me wonder whether this leads to an unhealthy state of mind?  Does one talk themselves into being "in love" when influenced by these feelings? Since we all make our own reality, is love a unique feeling for each person?

I believe the answer to the last question is "yes".  The reason I believe this is because I don't think "love" is always a mutual feeling.  One person may feel much stronger feelings for their mate than their mate feels for them and I believe that these feelings can change over time, I also believe that the change is usually a decline in feelings.

I think there will always be people who will just prefer to get lost in their emotions and not try to understand why they feel the way they do... if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not one of those people.  :)

Comments and thoughts welcome....

Simplify The Life, Live In The Moment

I came across a couple blogs lately on living a minimalist style of life.  It's a pretty interesting concept.  I can't help but look around me and wonder how I've accumulated so many things, and I think the main reason is that we end up filling up the space that we live in, whether we really use / need the things we fill it with is another story. 

So - I'm going to take stock of the things I own, and I mean everything.  I'll start tomorrow with my front two rooms.  The goal of this type of challenge is to live with only 100 things or less.  I'm not sure that I'll be able to get that low, but I'm going to try my best to get to below 150.  More on this tomorrow.

I've been wanting to check out this DVD. I'm trying to save money, so rather than going to Blockbuster like I would usually do, I'll just add it to my Netflix queue and wait for it to come next week.

Speaking of movies, I'm thinking about going to check out "Grown Ups" this weekend as a treat to myself.  I may even take a friend, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm also working on a new article about the iPad vs. a couple e-book readers and which one I'll likely go with... I hope to have that posted soon so stay tuned.

Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend!  Party safe, don't drink and drive!

I Used To Love Starbucks, Will This Bring Me Back?

It's all over the net today, Starbucks is partnering with Yahoo and others to bring free Wi-Fi to all of their stores, along with some free content that would normally be paid content, such as NY Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and more! 

So the question remains, does the offer of free Internet (without the normal limit of 2 hours and the requirement of being an AT&T customer to continue to use it for free) really entice the public to come back in and spend some time in the store?

I'm skeptical.  But let me start from the beginning.

I used to be more than regular Starbucks customer, I was a fan!.  I used to visit often and found it exciting to find a new location. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the customer service.  And then things changed.  The customer service dropped off, turnaround at the stores I visited was so high that I never had that "welcome back" feeling.  I started to notice all the force fed advertising of things that I didn't really care about; such as an inventory of travel mugs and coffee related accessories that could choke a horse. Then they added what Starbucks thought I would like in music. Most of the times the artists were not artists that I disliked, but I certainly was not going to pay the overpriced cost for the CD's they offered.  It started to feel cold and definitely was not as inviting as it once was...

I started going elsewhere and finding better service, more selection and better customer service.

OK - so back to the free internet.  Will this win back my business?  In short - No.

My visits were never longer than it took the counter line to dissipate.  I never saw the value that others did in sitting around and taking in the atmosphere, reading, or socializing - even though I've never thought of the Starbucks store layouts that I've been in as conducive to sharing a conversation with a new found friend.  The vision of the "quiet coffee house, where one could work or focus their energy as they relax" really never formed for me.  Most of the time I was in the store I was feeling caught awkwardly between the aging hipsters and the young and loud crowd.  It just was not my scene.

I do wish Starbucks good wishes though, there is still a part of me that enjoyed the phenomenon while it was on the way up and got caught up in it, and some of those memories are very good.