Responsibility Dec 28, 2006
Sometimes I want to get rid of all my responsibilities.  I don't mean the normal things like going to work and paying bills.  I mean the things I really don't like such as regularly recurring duties and being in charge of things.  Taking classes would definitely fit into the "things I don't like" category.  But more than that, it's little things like my responsibility to send an email to my Bible study group every week.  Every Tuesday, I send an email to let people know the plans for the week and if we have any upcoming events.  It's not a big deal.  But I really dislike doing it, mainly for the fact that it's a recurring responsibility; I can't forget to do it, otherwise I'll let people (mainly myself) down (for me, unreliability = failure).  This is definitely very closely related to my dislike of planning things because planning incurs responsibility; if I say I'll be there, I need to be there.  I can't be late, otherwise I'll be letting people (mainly myself) down.  This also applies to food/health:  I have a responsibility to live a long, healthy life, so I need to eat right and do some amount of exercise.  This is a responsibility.  It's not always easy.  Sometimes I just want to eat Cool Whip.  Only Cool Whip.  All the time.  God I love Cool Whip. 

The bad radio station I listen to did a bit where they brought some homeless people into their studio for some sort of competition.  They were talking to one of the guys about his living space (a cardboard box), and they were noticing that he was always pretty drunk.  The guy said he spends all his money on alcohol and cigarettes, and he's even been diagnosed with liver disease.  But the thing that struck me most about him was his level of satisfaction.  He gave up all responsibilities.  He stopped working.  He stopped paying bills.  He stopped calling people.  He stopped worrying about health.  All he does now, day in and day out, is live for himself.  And he's totally ok with that.  It's unfortunate he let his life become that way, and it's odd to see someone be so incredibly selfish.  But at the same time, he's got something I'd sometimes like:  No responsibilities. #psychology
Performancing (1) Dec 28, 2006
PayPerPost just bought Performancing.  I tried all of Performancing's products at one time or another, and I was never really impressed by any of them.  Their Firefox extension is a good idea in theory, but I never really had much success with it.  I tried Performancing Metrics when Google Analytics wasn't allowing any new users.  Metrics has a few good features and displays statistical data pretty nicely, but like any external web statistics program, it resides on a server other than my own, so it increases page loading time.  On a positive note, I liked it better than Google's product because it displayed statistics much more intuitively for me.  For some reason, Google Analytics is like trying to learn Chinese.  I tried Performancing Partners for a brief period during my AdSense trials, and I came to the same conclusion as with every other web advertising scheme:  Companies won't buy links on my site because my site is too small.  This means I don't make money with web advertising.  As for the Performancing website in general, I have one major complaint:  The main guy (Nick Wilson) is a horrible writer that needs to discover the magical art of spell check.  Words like "contraversy" can be pretty easily corrected by some artificial intelligence. 

And I guess that's what it all comes down to.  I keep hearing/seeing press about the things Performancing is doing, but I can't bring myself to respect a website, a company, or a person who can't spell. 

This is a sponsored post. #technology
American Idolatry Dec 28, 2006
I've watched American Idol a grand total of about 6 times, so the following opinion is based on frighteningly limited information and experience:  I think Taylor Hicks was a better singer before he won the competition.  Granted, the only episode I saw from the 2006 season was the one where he tried out.  So I didn't see any of the rest of the episodes where all the contestants got to compete against each other and perform on a big stage with a big band and everything.  So again, this is a very uninformed opinion.  But based on his performance and appearance towards the end of the show (from what I saw in commercials), they turned him into a George Clooney (or Matthew Perry) look-a-like pop star.  And compared to what he looked and acted like at the beginning, I don't think it was a good change.  Sure, he got his teeth whitened, he got a nice tan, and he bought a bunch of trendy clothes.  But essentially, that took away his uniqueness.  Originally, he was an oddly-speaking, gray-haired-but-young-looking, southern boy with an amazingly soulful voice that didn't sound like it was coming from his body.  The American Idol machine took that away from him and substituted the same old crap that comes out of every season of their show. #entertainment