Weekly Mind Dump 031117

I’ve been debating on how to be more consistent with content on this blog. I desperately want to keep it going, but I need a way to kickstart content creation. I’ve decided to start taking notes through the week and doing a kind of weekly mind dump every weekend (It just occurred to me that the acronym for this exercise, should I choose to use one, will be WMD.).

Since I just decided to do this, well, five minutes ago, I don’t have much to report today. Here are a few things… Continue reading ” Weekly Mind Dump 031117″ →

I Felt Fake

It seems like a little thing, I guess.

Like many folks in the workforce, I have a LinkedIn profile. I don’t post much on there, but I enjoy the networking opportunities and professional insights it provides.

Still, I felt fake. Continue reading “I Felt Fake” →

Trump Won – My Sleepless Thoughts

I woke early on Wednesday morning to find that Donald Trump has won the presidency of the United States.

America clearly voted against the Clinton legacy, and I am grateful for that. Trump was not my first choice by far, but he has promised to be a proponent for issues which I support, and I trust he will honor those commitments.

Supreme Court appointments, Obamacare repeal, and other matters of importance face our new president in short order. Praying he is up to the task and that he surrounds himself with a good team to navigate the choppy political waters in the days ahead.

As Scott Adams of Dilbert fame recently wrote, now that the election has happened, let’s all try to be useful.

How I Blog On My iPad 


Watch any science fiction movie or show and you will see a common thread – touch screens and tablets are pervasive. Physical keyboards are nowhere to be found. Today, most people’s primary computing device is the phone in their pocket or purse, and that trend seems likely to continue and to escalate.

I happily use my MacBook Air daily for my web design boot camp, podcast editing for my church, recording, and other tasks. But my primary computers are my iPad Air 2 and, to a lesser extent, my iPhone. They are always with me (yes, my iPad too), and are terrific tools for the way I write and manage data. As such, I have decided to intentionally use my iPad as my primary blogging tool whenever possible. I am typing this post on the iPad using the standard iOS keyboard.

Here are three of the tools I use to accomplish this… Continue reading “How I Blog On My iPad “ →

Why Eliminating the Headphone Jack is the Wrong Call

The rumor mill has already begun speculating what new features and form factors will be in the iPhone 7 when it is released next year. As an Apple fan, I follow them with some interest, but I don’t assume that these guesses are correct until I see some hard evidence.

There is one rumor, however, that I hope is incorrect.

It is the removal of the headphone jack. Continue reading “Why Eliminating the Headphone Jack is the Wrong Call” →

I Told Her So

  
I have been trying to get my daughter, Lyddie, to watch Disney’s Robin Hood with me on Netflix for a while. She is more of a Food Network (Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped) or Disney Channel (Kickin’ It, Girl Meets World) kind of girl.Today, I finally convinced her. She didn’t think she would like it. 

She cackled a lot. She was sad when everyone was in jail. She asked a lot of questions, some of which I could answer. In short, she liked it after all.

I was very glad that a movie like that could translate today.

I had a similar feeling when we went to see the new Peanuts movie a few weeks ago. That was one of the most satisfying movie experiences we’ve had in a long time. It was clean, touching, hilarious… just a GOOD movie. 

Next one I’m gonna try to get her to see? Dumbo. May be a harder sell. 

I Will Never Hear Adele’s New Album

 When I heard that Adele’s new album would not be released to streaming sites like Spotify, I had one thought…

Well, I guess I’ll never hear Adele’s new album.

I am an all-in Spotify user. I figure, for the cost of one album on iTunes per month, I can listen to almost anything I want on any device I want. I don’t listen to pop radio, so if it isn’t on Spotify, I won’t likely hear it.

I understand why artists like Adele and Taylor Swift would opt to keep their music off streaming services – they feel that they are not adequately compensated by these services, and I can’t necessarily argue against that view. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that I (nor folks like me) won’t hear their music until (or if) they change their minds.

Why Cheap Electronics Cost More

I thought I had it all figured out.

I researched. I read reviews. I read more reviews.

I wanted a small tablet. The iPad Mini had just been introduced, and I already had a first gen Kindle Fire for work. But I thought there might be a better way. So my research pointed me to the first gen Nexus 7. I found a good deal on one and I bought it.

I came to love that thing. It became a vital part of my work flow.

Then it started to slow down. Continue reading “Why Cheap Electronics Cost More” →