Lists Feb 9, 2007
I've been really into lists lately.  It seems like everything I write about can be easily organized with numbers or bullets.  Plus, it seems like most ideas come with 3 or 4 supporting points.  Why write all that fluff when everything can be put in lists?  This comes in direct opposition to my previous aversion to lists, but that had more to do with HTML and styling and less to do with actual content.  Sites like 5ives and posts about top 10 lists make all the sense in the world to me right now. #psychology
Website speed problems (1) Feb 9, 2007
I was having some speed problems with my website for the past few weeks, and I was thinking about switching from DreamHost to something like BlueHost.  I even left a comment on somebody's website when I noticed how much faster his site was than mine.  He said he was with BlueHost and he uses a really stripped-down theme.  My theme is pretty simple, so I knew it had to be a problem with my server.  Pages were taking a long time to load, and even posting new entries was taking forever.  I tried all the normal tricks like disabling sending trackbacks and pinging update services, but nothing worked.  But then yesterday, things suddenly went back to normal.  Everything's fast again.  I have no idea what the problem was. #technology
Time flies Feb 9, 2007
As I was driving home yesterday, I noticed how light it was despite the time.  This means we're past the mid-point of winter.  The days are getting longer, and this is a good thing.  It's weird how fast time goes by now that I'm "old".  Seasons used to feel like years, and years like a lifetime.  Now years are like seasons, and months like weeks.  It used to feel like winter took forever to be done with, and summer was always too short.  Summer is still too short, but winter isn't all that long (I'm saying this in February; let's see what I say in May when it's still 40°).  I'm not sure if it's because I'm not in school anymore or just because each successive day accounts for a smaller percentage of my lifetime, but time seems like it's flying. #lifestyle
Rich Feb 9, 2007
Money can't buy you love, but it can pretty much solve every problem you could ever encounter.  Sometimes I think being rich would make life a bit easier.  If, for example, there was an extra "0" at the end of my salary, I would no longer have any bills.  My house, car, insurance, electric, cell phone, internet, would all be paid for.  With quite a bit to spare.  Heck, I'd really only have to work about a year or two before I'd make more than enough for retirement.  But the more I think about it, the more I realize I couldn't deal with being rich.  If the above scenario was true, one of two things would happen:  Either I would (a) adjust my life to match my enormous income or (b) continue living as normal, with a massive savings account and permanent financial stability.  Since (b) couldn't possibly happen, I'll go with (a).  I would probably try to keep things under control at first, but I think I'd end up realizing how many things are broken and how easily they can be fixed with money.  "I don't like having to go outside to warm up my car in the morning, so I'm gonna buy an automatic starter.  But oh wait, I have a ton of money.  Why don't I just move to Hawaii?"  This is the kind of logic that I would imagine is impossible to dismiss when an almost endless supply of money is at hand.  If I somehow developed the self-control and perseverance to adhere to (b), I don't think it would work as nicely as I'd like.  Let's say I continued living life as normal, paying bills with interest, shopping at cheap stores because ... well, I'm cheap.  But all the while, there's a huge sum of money continually growing, funding savings accounts, investments, retirement, college education, etc.  I think at some point, something would come up.  Maybe my liver would fail and I'd need to buy a new one.  Or maybe my mortgage company would decide they wanted all my money now instead of in 30 years.  My current way of life couldn't even come close to paying for these things.  But if I had all kinds of money saved up, it would be stupid to not use it to pay for these kinds of things.  Maybe I'm a pessimist (maybe?), but I just think something would happen that would prevent me from ever being rich.  Oh well.  I can deal with that. #money