Remember Ring Sep 21, 2006
This company is designing a wedding band that heats up to 120°F the day before a couple's anniversary, reminding the wearer every hour on the hour.  (via Boing Boing) #products
Watch band Sep 21, 2006
The first watch I owned was pretty typical.  It was a cheap little digital thing with a belt-like band.  At the time, my tiny little wrists were too small even for the tightest setting.  So I was forced to punch a new hole in the watch band to make it fit.  Later on when I got other watches, they were always either too big or too small.  They never fit perfectly because of the spacing of the holes on the band.  Later on I got a watch with a metal band.  I knew this was a bad idea before I even bought it.  It pulled out my arm hair and left me permanently scarred (mentally). 

And then I stepped into watch band zen:  Velcro!  Velcro always fits, no questions asked.  When my wrists swell in the summer, it fits.  When they shrink in the winter, it fits.  A Velcro watch band can't not fit.  Although Velcro doesn't give me points in the "cool" category, I don't have many points to begin with. 

Velcro should really be used for belts too.  I have the same problem there. #products
Biggest regrets (1) Sep 20, 2006
Because of my blind and sometimes ignorant perseverance, I often do things past the point of rational thought.  These are the things I have the biggest regrets about.  I once said that, if I had the chance, I wouldn't go back and do many things differently because I don't think I can currently make an honest judgement call about my then-16-year-old mindset.  Things were different then.  I "grew" from those experiences. 

But one thing I'm pretty darn sure I would change is my involvement in sports.  I played soccer through my senior year of high school, but I really should've "retired" after my freshman or sophomore year.  That's when I was at the top of my game.  I was a starter, I was relatively good, and I had a great time playing.  But I really should've noticed that things were going downhill.  If freshman year was the top, sophomore year was the beginning of the end.  People started getting exponentially better by going to summer sports camps and things like that, meanwhile I stayed at the same skill level I had attained in 8th grade.  But instead of throwing in the towel and letting them retire my jersey (heh), I "stuck it out".  I continued playing in my junior year, practiced with varsity yet played with JV, and ended up spraining my ankle.  And by the time senior year rolled around, I was a committed benchwarmer, wasting my time and energy trying to attain the golden "varsity letter" I had so patiently waited my entire life to receive (unlike my dumb sisters who got easy varsity letters by playing field hockey and doing cross country [no offense; God bless their hearts]). 

And why did I persevere through stupid running drills and watching games from the sideline?  "It'll look good on your transcripts."  Yep, that's it.  A good 96% of things I did in high school were done for the purpose of "looking good on my transcripts".  What are transcripts anyway?  I've never seen them or read them.  But of course colleges read them.  Of course colleges base huge decisions and millions of dollars on a mythical piece of paper that doesn't actually exist.  Am I really supposed to believe that Stevens Institute of Technology looked at my transcript and thought, "Hmm, he's a scholar, a musician, and an athlete.  He'll do great at our school."  If they did, I'd hate to break the news to them that my athleticism didn't do me much good in college.  My musicianship hardly helped the school either, unless you consider playing guitar for the Christian group a "big help". 

Getting back on topic, I'd have to say the same thing about baseball.  I "retired" from baseball after 9th grade, only because it was the last year I was able to play for the town team.  I thought about stopping after 7th or 8th grade, but I thought, "I'll stick it out till the end, until I'm not allowed to play anymore."  Meanwhile, my playing skills peaked when I was in 4th grade, when I was pitcher and made the all-star team (quite the honor).  Everything after that was downhill. 

Thankfully, I gracefully drifted away from other sports.  I played football from 4th to 6th grade.  My last year was most likely my best, though I'll never know.  I stopped playing and started soccer (what a great decision that turned out to be).  I "retired" from basketball after 9th grade because I sat the bench and hated playing on the team.  I probably should've retired a year or two earlier, but at least I got out when I did.  I doubt it's a coincidence that my two favorite sports to play/watch are football and basketball. 

So in conclusion, I regret the things I did that I thought would eventually benefit me in some way.  I don't feel like I benefited from playing soccer those last 2 or 3 years.  I don't feel like I'm a better person because I played baseball those extra 4, 5, or 6 years.  My experience in marching band hasn't helped me get ahead in life.  Mock trial had a temporal benefit, all of which has since worn off.  Sometimes, maybe it's better to just give up. #education
Perseverance Sep 20, 2006
I have a pretty solid streak of perseverance.  When I do things, I tend to do them until they're done or until they can't be done anymore.  I think this is mostly a product of how I was raised.  When I played sports as a kid and got sick of them halfway through the season, I was reminded that I made a commitment.  Commitments shouldn't be broken because both parties can be and usually are adversely affected.  I've carried this practice into my current belief system.  Some people think you should just give up if you experience adversity.  Some people think you should change your plans if something gets harder than you expected.  Some people think it's ok to be flaky and to choose when to show up and when to skip out on commitments.  I don't think any of these things are ok. 

So when I recently changed my hiking plans mid-hike, I somewhat disappointed myself.  I was all set to complete a goal despite all the obstacles I knew I would encounter.  But because of some unforeseen obstacles (all compounded together), I had to cut the hike short and go home early.  And I think this had a larger psychological impact than I would've imagined.  Not only did I not achieve my goals, but I didn't complete the task.  And it's not that I would've done anything differently if I could do it all over again, it's just that it went against my pattern of perseverance. 

So it was refreshing this past weekend to go hiking again and cleanse the bad taste I had in my mouth.  It was good to complete a goal by reaching a destination.  It was good to actually reach a campsite.  It was nice not seeing any bears or other threatening wildlife.  And it was comforting to sleep in a warm, dry tent.  I'd hate to say that I wouldn't be able to persevere through all that stuff at a later date, but maybe I would just need to be a little less ambitious.  Seriously, 50 miles in 3 days during a hurricane in bear country?  What was I thinking? #psychology
Dream gadget Sep 19, 2006
I read a Digg post a few days ago that said something about getting your "dream gadget".  The article it linked to actually said nothing about that; it talked about buying your dream gadget by shopping online and price-matching.  But that got me thinking:  What's my dream gadget?  It didn't take long to come up with a full-featured super-gadget that can never and will never exist.  But I can dream can't I? 

[I feel like that kid from A Christmas Story.]

My dream gadget would be a mobile media and communication device.  It would consist of a phone, a computer, a camera, a digital music player, a satellite radio tuner, a GPS device, and a video game system. 

Despite my extreme dislike for the phone in general and cell phones in specific, I have to admit that it's quite convenient to be able to call a pizza place while I'm in the car and have it be ready by the time I get there.  And it's good to be able to call people when I get lost while trying to find a bowling alley in the suburbs of Paterson.  Plus, text messaging is currently my favorite means of communication.  It's so simple and to-the-point. 

Despite my extreme dislike for the current state of mobile internet usability, I can see that it's an extremely useful thing.  It's great to be able to find all kinds of information at any time of the day, wherever you are.  And aside from the mobility part, a computer is great at organizing information, such as contacts, notes, a calendar, etc.  This would require WiFi in addition to a mobile internet voice/data plan. 

Despite my extreme dislike for cell phone cameras, it just makes all the sense in the world to decrease the number of gadgets a person carries.  I used to carry a cell phone and a PDA, so when I got a Treo, I was overjoyed.  And now I carry a Treo and a camera, so it would obviously be great to combine them.  However, like I stated in my previous post, it would need to be a considerably good camera. 

I've never owned an mp3 player, but I would like portable digital music if it fit into my existing device.  My Treo can play music, but the headphone jack is in such a terrible location, it makes me wonder if the thing was designed by a blind person (not that I have anything against blind people; but I would imagine they're not the best at designing usable electronics products).

Satellite radio is something I'd like to get into eventually, but I just don't have enough courage to take the plunge.  Like I said in the past, if a device came pre-installed with a satellite radio tuner, I would probably be willing to fork over the $15/month for the service. 

GPS is another thing I'd really like to get into, but I have trouble justifying spending hundreds of dollars on another gadget.  If it came bundled in my dream gadget, I would definitely be a fan.  I keep coming across scenarios where it would be really great if I had GPS.  Like when I'm lost in the middle of the woods and I need to find the nearest crossing road.  Or when I know there's a quicker way to get to a certain destination, and an aerial view would make it completely possible.  Plus, GeoTagging is a great way to trace your steps and/or leave a breadcrumb trail.  Flickr just enabled the functionality so that it's easy to tell where photos were taken (with a high degree of precision).  It would also be cool to see a breadcrumb trail for a hiking trip or a road trip.  "Where were you on Sunday at 1:40pm?"  I was at 42.2733823022,-73.1899702181. 

A video game system would be the icing on the cake.  "Game cartridges" and "platforms" are stupid.  I want the universal self-contained gaming system.  I know the technology is there.  It's more about the licensing and intellectual property. 

On a final note, despite my extreme dislike for Bluetooth, I would want my device to be able to wirelessly communicate with other devices.  I think that's what Bluetooth is supposed to do, though it utterly fails.  Once they finally get all the kinks worked out, it would be nice to stream music from my gadget to a device of my choosing (home theater, car stereo, etc.).  I would want to see my digital pictures on my TV.  I would want to listen to satellite radio in my car.  I would want to sync information between my gadget and my computer. 

So in the end, all I want is a GPS-enabled computer-camera-phone music and satellite radio playing and streaming video game system.  Is that too much to ask? #technology
ErrorZilla Sep 15, 2006
ErrorZilla is an excellent Firefox extension that gives the user a few more options when Firefox can't find a certain website or page.  Options include the simple yet previously absent feature "Try Again", the "Google Cache" and "Wayback" links for cached copies of the page (I'm waiting for the Coral links to come with the next version), and simple yet useful tools like "Ping", "Trace", and "Whois".  After installing it, I immediately used it several times.  Firefox sometimes doesn't find sites on the first try (it might be a problem with my network), so I clicked on "Try Again" and it worked.  Other times, the website wasn't found and the "Try Again" button didn't do anything, so I pinged the site and got no response.  In other words, the site was down.  So I clicked on "Google Cache" and was able to view a perfectly cached copy of the page. 

The plugin was designed by a guy who's website is notoriously unreliable and difficult to navigate through (who uses Google search when their website is powered by WordPress?).  His plugin is ironically useful for his own website. 

(via Download Squad) #technology
Safe bedside table Sep 14, 2006
James McAdam is a British artist who designed a bedside table that quickly converts into a shield and a club for beating nighttime intruders senseless.  Awesome.  (via Neatorama) #products
NFL predator Sep 13, 2006
I think it's funny that every NFL team has a "predator":  A black guy with long dreads that stick out the back of his helmet.  It's funny because it's the most impractical hair style imaginable, especially for an extremely physical game like football.  It wouldn't take much to yank one of those things right out of a person's head.  Thankfully, most of the NFL's predators are defensive backs, so they aren't usually "the ball" when everyone else is playing "kill the man with the ball".  It the predator was a running back, he'd have a pretty tough life.  It's also impractical because they're black people, and I've been told that black people have enough problems with their hair as it is (correct me if I'm wrong). 

The other reason it's funny is because every team has one.  If I randomly browse through some team rosters, I find this guy from the Bears, this guy from the Browns, this guy from the Saints, this guy from the Seahawks, this guy from the Buccaneers.  The list goes on. 
#sports
Five words Sep 13, 2006
In the tradition of 5ives (arguably one of the greatest websites on the internet), here's my list of five things. 

Five old-people words that make me feel weird when using them:
1.  Belch
2.  Slacks
3.  Trousers
4.  Underpants
5.  Rear end #psychology
Clothes rotation Sep 12, 2006
This is totally me. 
[Image: dilbert20060909.gif]
#entertainment