What do you do when all you want to do is write...

... you just start writing...

That's it.

Going forward...

Well, a lot of things have happened in the last couple months and I honestly don't know where to start.

I'm just hoping that you, the internet, can be patient as I attempt to put all of this together.

If anything, this is going to be a great ride.

Creating new website

Despite all of my hard work on facebook, it's time that I also have some kind of static site as well.

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Email To Andy Ihnatko

I recently sent and email to Andy Ihnatko, a really cool journalist
from the Chicago Sun Times and Macbreak Weekly. I thought it was
pretty good and I'd like to post it to you the internet!

(Note: I didn't take the time to do a second draft this is all from
the top of my head).

Hello Andy,
I'm a fan and a happy mac user. I've heard a lot of arguments that
I've paid too much for my mac, but I can't think of a time when I had
to worry about this or that not working. Anyway, you've probably heard
and experienced this story yourself.

The point of me emailing is that I'm having a hard time arguing with
my co-workers in regards to the iPhone. I got one and I love it, the
thing is testimate to modern computing and we wouldn't even be having
a discussion about "smart" or "feature" phones if it hadn't come to
pass.

It seems to me, that a lot of the talk after google IO were complaints
against Apple not being open and that the web wanted to be free, but
it seems that no one brings up the fact that the very first
applications that third party developers could put on the iPhone were
*gasp* web apps that:
1) Free to develop
2) Free of censorship from apple
3) Freely available to everyone and can run on (basically) any webkit
based browser

I can understand some of the frustration that some of the developers
are experiencing when it comes for submitting there application, but
it seems kind of silly when somebody complains that she or he can't
use tool Z on product i so they want to have nothing to do with it (or
cancel a national conference).

To me, I'm reminded of someone saying they want to run their
playstation games on a nintendo, but then I look at the people who are
actively complaining and I wonder how many of them are console gamers.

One other thing, I'm tempted to buy the playboy application and do a
little blog post about it, because I keep Leo talking about how apple
is being hypocritical on their porn policy. I don't think this is
true, because the applications that were taken off the store all
contain nudity. The description on the playboy application says that
it doesn't explicitly. The only thing is that I'm afraid my wife might
beat me if she sees it when she syncs here ipod touch, but I think I
could get away with it if a respected journalist said I should in
order to get the inside scoop.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you for doing what you do. You explain your
arguments a lot better than I do and it comes across and solid
reasoning. I hope that you've read this and smiled!

Salutations!

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking | 43 Folders

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking | 43 Folders

The hardest part of starting over is swallowing my pride, saying that I need help and then starting up again.

(Via 43 Folders.)

Getting back to work

Well, things have been hectic and I'm thinking about a lot of things in my personal life. The key is that those near me are happy and doing well. Living, learning and enjoying life.

I wish I could say that about people outside of my house, but I can only do so much.

Posted via email from Mandaris' posterous

Good for him

My brother is engaged to get married. I'm happy that he's found someone.

Late night oil

So I'm up late again.

It's weird being up this late. Just sitting here thinking about what I could be doing instead of doing it. It's a quite moment where I can tune out for a couple minutes and just here the humming of the lightbulbs and tell myself, "It's ok to slow down and take this minute for me"

Blogging, bloggin, bloggin...

I really do love blogging, even if most of it is junk!

Adults

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be an adult. To me, being an adult means owning up to your responsibilities and making reasonably rational decisions. I say reasonably because there are things that can't/shouldn't be rationalized. For example, love between exact opposites or why they stopped showing Captain Eo at DisneyLand (completely irrational).

On the opposite side of the equation, we have emotion. The western world has a love/hate relationship with emotions. In America, it is written that we should all be working on that constant pursuit for happiness. Some of the best movies are about people who do this.

As an adult, we all have to balance this.

I couldn't sleep

After watching the movie ‘Everybody’s fine’, a nice movie about a newly widowed father who travels across the country to meet up with his children who he has a strained relationship with. It got me thinking about my own relationships. Have I done everything I could do? If I were to die would the people who matter to me go forward with their lives knowing that I wished them well? Would my children know that all I truly want for them is to live a full and happy life? Did I really live life to the fullest and lead by example?

That last one, I’m going to say ‘no and yes’.

I don’t live every moment to the fullest, in fact, I have caught myself drifting in and out a couple times. Like the song from Linkin Park, ‘It’s easier to run’, I find that I’ve got a certain part of myself that just zones out sometimes. That says ‘Hey, I don’t think I can change this situation so why fight it?’

I know, it’s horrible, but I think it’s how most people are ‘living’ there life.

I also think that’s why people cheat on their spouses and just treat people like shit.

And I’m tired of it. Really.

I’m tired of being told to live in a little box, and I’m tired of being told to shhhh and keep quiet about things for the stupidest of reasons. That, in the end, come back to ultimately bite me.

To be honest, I feel that a lot of people are just set in their ways. I could tell a certain someone that I love them a hundred times and they would only look back to a time I didn’t return their phone call because I was changing a diaper and say that I’m a liar. I could tell someone that they should stand up make a change to some kind of product and that person could say ‘Hey, my hands are tied because the boss gave me these things to do.’ I could hug someone and they would only say that I’m only doing it because it’s expected and not because I want to become closer to them and I may never be able to do it again. I could take someone’s keys to make sure they don’t drink and drive, but that person would only see me as attempting to belittle them.

After a certain point, I’ve got to say ‘Listen, I’m an adult and you’re an adult. I’m going to go this way. You can do whatever you want.’

I’m going to stop there because I have to be at work in 5 hours.

Getting back into it

Well, the last couple of weeks have been really busy in between moving to a new location, new routines, new expenses and just a lot of new things. Unfortunately, I've allowed myself to get off the routines that I've been putting together and the biggest reason is my own procrastination.

Part of me wants to make this blog "Perfect", so I spend too much time thinking about all the little tools I should use to make it. I wonder "How am I going to host images?", "Am I going to continue hosting it on google?", "How do I keep track of old post: Should I leave them on the server or on my local machine?", "What if my laptop gets stolen?", "Should I only write on my laptop or anything I get my hands on?"

It goes on and on, and I forget the important thing. This blog is for me. I do it to put my thoughts into words and from there I post it for the whole world to see. I make it, not the other way around.

If you don't like it, you don't have to read it.

We are outta here!

We've moved!

My father is coming home!

My father recently had a stroke and was doing some intense physical therapy down in Vallejo.

But he's coming home today! This month is really coming around!

Review (February 18th, 2010)

I’ve been pushed off of my review wagon (again). One thing you have to keep in mind when starting a new habit is that you should forgive yourself if you miss a day and get back to it as soon as you can. Well, things have been busy in my life: My dad had a stroke, I’m going to be moving to a new place at the end of the month, I’ve had the privilege of raising someone else’s kid for a while and I’ve also been re-evaluating my life. 

Sometimes, I don’t know what to do or feel... 

Like a leaf in the wind...

Personal Accomplishments:

* Met Andy Ihnatko

* Getting better and better about tracking my list of things to do

* Doing my review again

I met Andy Ihnatko!

I saw him speak at a macnexus meeting!

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Review (February 5th 2010)

Well, it seems that I’ve allowed myself to get caught up in the drama again, but I feel like a much better person. I vaguely remember someone once saying that its how we deal with events that define us. I had some very interesting things happen to me since the last time I did a review.

43 Folders | Time, Attention, and Creative Work

via 43folders.com

Wow, I can't believe I spent so much time looking into productivity p0rn! I used to look at 43folders.com almost every other hour looking for that "One secret that would make me productive".

The secret, just do it.

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Surviving with More Kids (part. 2)

Well, I don't want to say that the honeymoon phase is over, but I will say that things have become a lot more... hectic.

My new addition

Posted via web from Mandaris' posterous

Surviving with More Kids (part. 1)

Yesterday, after a particularly long series of events. My wife and I have had the opportunity to care for two (2) more girls; one aged 3 and the other aged 1. I won’t go into the details of where we got them or how we got them, but they are here and it’s nice to see how they interact with our girls.

My favorite new feature of facebook

Recently, I noticed something new in the email notifications that I get from facebook. They have allowed you to reply to a conversation without having to log into the website! This is awesome because you can follow along with a conversation without leaving your "productive" environment.

Here's another screenshot using LittleSnapper and the post is from MarsEdit.

Review (January 22nd, 2010)

This week, I’ve been really ill. Maybe it’s all the stress that I’ve been under: Looking for a new place to live, Asking for a raise, unresolved issues with my family, weird sleeping schedule (the kids), pressure to produce _something_!

Anyway, here’s a quick review:

Accomplishments:
* Asked for a raise (Which was quickly followed by questions of “How do you do that special XYZ thing you do?)
* Keep my head when I found out my account information was used to make some weird purchases
* Make a post to email-init to further information about email clients

Things on my mind:
* Find a place to live
* Work on my personal relationships
* Do a deeper review than this


Basically the same thing as last week

Hacked!

Today, I got a notification that someone had stolen my account information to buy things online and that my account is going to be closed for the time being. It just goes to show that you have to be on top of this kind of stuff and people will take your money even if you don’t have a lot in the first place.

On top of that, I just got the bill for the fixes to my doorway that was kicked in last year.

$326!

You must be out of your mind!


Talk about bad timing!

How I use email

Recently, Mac Developer Brent Simmons discussed on his blog about the importance of a good email client. Although, he said he wouldn't spearhead the project, he did start up a mailing list (ironic) for it. The list has been going crazy with people going back and forth over what the ideal mail client was and what should be in the 1.0 release.

Review (January 15, 2010)

I'd like to take this time to thank myself for not going completely crazy this last week. Crying babies, very little sleep and just the aftermath of all the drama from last month and I'm still standing...

...although a little wobbly!

But, I'd like to take some time and do a little weekly review.

Personal accomplishments this week:
1) Finish two projects for work that will reward the company for a while
2) Keep my cool despite the constant pressure to find a new place and money to pay for it.
3) Cut back on my liquid sugar intake. No soda!
4) Did a weekly review

Things Still on my Mind:
*) How to make more income
*) How to improve the relationship I have with my family
*) What are some more activities that I can do with my children in the winter time

The day after being sick

It just feels weird for a variety of reasons. There is the traditional protestant guilt that one is supposed to be working everyday combined with questioning wether or not you are contagious topped with the delicious pressure of all the things that need to be done.
Yay!

Pick yourself up and hit it again…

Although you can’t tell by only looking at my blog, but I’ve made a commitment with myself to write more often. It’s usually how I cope with some of the “opportunities” that life presents to me and I typically feel much better about myself and my path in life.

Recently, I’ve been having some difficulty getting started on some posts. I catch myself worrying more about what tool I'm going to use then the actual content of m writing.

I was going to wonder what the pros use, but it doesn't matter. The important thing to do is to just write something.

Writers write
Programmer program
Simple

The nightmare

Today, I woke up from a nightmare. I dreamed that I was unable to move forward with my life. That there was some list out there that kept track of my every mistake and that it prevented me from getting a raise at my current job or to move to another job.
There was a guy who let me look at the list and it was filled with minute and cryptic offenses. The whole time I stood there shocked because there wasn't a way to defend myself... it was all on the paper that I wasn't supposed to see in the first place.
What do I do? How can this be fair? Some of the things were so small as to seems inconsequential. Some of them had nothing to do with who I was, what I had done in the past or how I had changed over the years.

Waking up, I realized that I was looking at the fear I've of just letting my past mistakes dictate who I am and denying myself of the possibility of being better.

Goals for the year

My goals for the year include (in no particular order):
* Get into great shape
* Learn and document a programming language
* Continue to be a good father

Well, let's see how it goes.