Crown of the Metropolis  

Wednesday, May 30 : 11:13 AM : 0 comments :
We're back from New York and it all feels so empty. I'm facing packing up and moving out of Fremont but I really just want to go back to New York. Usually, after a week spent there, I start to get claustrophic and dying for home. I think the difference this time was hanging out in the East Village. Before, we always hung out on the West or Mid-town areas of Manhattan. Sure, we ventured into the Village and into SoHo occassionally but mostly we were up amongst the crowds and the gigantic highrises. I didn't even go above Union Square this time out.

Using Whole Foods on Houston (an amazing place with plenty of room for gatherings) as a central meeting spot all week, I found that Manhattan has enough space and parks to make me (finally) feel comfortable. Plus, New York had blazing hot weather all week and nothing beats hanging out in the city at three in the morning in shorts and a t-shirt. Jmz, Victor, and I all agreed that this was the life and that we need to return as soon as possible, assuming the weather is nice.

Another underrated thing about this trip was that the city seemed empty. The clubs and bars we ended up at each evening were relatively uncrowded (people go out of town on Memorial Day apparently). New York is death for big groups, as any gathering over six people can be a hassle. But, for the most part, we got along and around fine with a dozen or more people at a time. Usually it's a crazy mess trying to sit down to eat anywhere, find a place to go out, etc. This trip, every location that was chosen by our New York chaperons turned out to be perfect for setting, mood, and density.

Oh and did I mention how much I like Brooklyn? I think I did. Anyway, many thoughts, many adventures, I'll blog it out later. Many of the "regulars" weren't around but there's no way I'm letting another three years pass before I return to Manhattan so we'll gonna do this again, real soon. Here's some pictures from the trip. Thanks all!
New York 2007 Pictures
Jmz' Group Shot
Vloh's Photos
Jon's Flickr
Jon's Moblog



I Used to Love N.Y.C.  

Thursday, May 24 : 1:02 AM : 0 comments :
New York, I'm falling in love with you all over again. Okay, that's not precisely true. I mean, I was never in love with New York, I just liked it a lot (and then ditched her by the roadside pretty quickly). But it's been a few years since I've been back and I'm rediscovering her charms -- which exist for me mainly in the late evenings or the early mornings when the streets are clear and the nights are full.

New York, love the city, hate the (amount of) people. Then again, it's easy to be in love with a place when you're on vacation, the weather is beautiful, and you're having amazing experiences with your friends. Some quick highlights so far? I think I like Brooklyn, a lot. I probably should have tried to explore the borough when I was here. Rooftops, love the rooftops. I visited the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, which was small, but to me, a period at the end of a two year sentence.
"But she was there for me, and I was there for her
Pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her
And just cool out, cool out and listen to her"
So I've been here for four days and the real crazy fun hasn't even started yet. Today was food day (led by the incomparable Pam), tomorrow is shopping day, Friday is Squabble Tournament Day, Saturday through the weekend is See Everyone and Have the Greatest Time Day(s). Like seriously, am I having too much fun out here or what? I'm meeting amazing new people too. Like amazing. It's ridiculous. I heart New York -- in nice weather.
"About my people she was teachin me
By not preachin to me but speakin to me
In a method that was leisurely, so easily I approached
She dug my rap, thats how we got close"
On top of that, I'm coming off of an Ann Arbor trip that was excellent too. And here in New York, I got a chance to put a face to my editor from Rough Guides and he was cool as hell. So "work" is going well too. The only daddy downer of the trip so far? The Celtics got the worst possible pick ever. Like seriously, my (basketball) soul is bleeding and I can't even share it with anyone. I should have watched the lottery selection but we were out having a Wallace & Gromit Grand Day Out-type adventure. Sorry Celtics, another decade of futility. But I might be okay with that once Tuesday rolls around and this New York trip turns out to have been the best of the best.

I'm moblogging like crazy so if you want to follow along, hit the moblog (or the hiplog). Be back as regularly scheduled next week to detail it all. I'm working on blogging my life, like seriously. And subsequently I'm working on boring everyone I know to death by constant talking and blogging. It's just a nasty side-effect of the new me. I can't even get myself to shut up nowadays; I've become that guy you wish came with an on-off or mute button. Fun times. See you soon.
"Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, is beautiful Brooklyn
Long as I live here believe I'm on fire hey
Cuz it's the B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Best in the world and all USA
It's the B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-to-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Place where I rest is on my born day
Bust it, sometimes I sit back and just reflect
Watch the world go by and my thought connect
I think about the time past and the time to come
Reminesce on Bed-Stuy when I was pride and young"
-Mos Def, Brooklyn-



Number 3 & 4  

Tuesday, May 22 : 1:18 AM : 0 comments :
Virgo
[ December 29, 2003 ] - Right Wrist

If there are two tattoos I sort of regret getting, it's numbers three and four. I don't regret the actual tattoos, just the impatience involved in not waiting for the regular shop I go to to do them. I had convinced George that we needed to get a twins tattoo and she was all-in but the winter holiday had messed with Avalon Tattoo's hours. Plus, we had Greg, Caroline, and Louis with us and it would've been a real shame to drag them down to Pacfic Beach with no action.

That's how we ended up across the street, getting a good deal on three tattoos but then realizing afterwards that you pay for what you get. The tattoos aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they're not as clean as I'd like either. Actually, George's tattoo has streak marks near the bottom of it, which would bug me to no end but she's okay with it.

The lesson to be learned here? Don't be impatient, pay for someone good, even if it costs a few extra dollars. The difference between a sixty dollar tattoo and an eighty dollar one can be huge. Go with the high, just like an auction -- unless you know and trust the guy already. Plus, some people aren't good at certain things, find a tattooer's specialty and just have them stick with that. No need to get fancy here.

Out of all my tattoos, the one most people ask about or recognize is the Virgo sign I share with George. If part of getting tattoos is to use them as a conversation starter, then that's the one I talk about the most (possibly since it's the most visable?). Questions about the Virgo tattoo lead directly into my "I have a twin sister, her name is George" speech -- it's less inspiring than MLK's "I have a dream," but it's almost as famous. This revelation of twin-ship leads neatly into the small talk I prefer most.

See, from "Oh, you have a twin sister!" I can easily segueway into "Do you have siblings?" if I want to get them talking, or they can follow-up with "Where does she live? Are you guys close?" etc they want me to keep talking. I'm armed with a whole battalion of George-related small talk. Very safe and comfortable territory for me. Ten minutes of small talk, instantly taken care of.

So while the excecution on the Virgo tattoo may not have been the best, it's been the best bang for the buck -- taken from a socializing perspective. Plus, Virgos recognize me as a fellow Virgo immediately. How else do you think I meet fellow anal and weirdly organized people?
"Through meditation I program my heart
to beat breakbeats and hum basslines on excellation
'Ohm'
I burn seven day candles that melt
into twelve inch circles on my mantle
and spin funk like myrrh
'Ohm'
and I can fade worlds in and out with my mixing patterns
letting the Earth spin as I blend in Saturn"
-Saul Williams, Ohm [audio] -

Ohm
- Right Elbow
The other tattoo I got at the same time is the Sanskrit for "Ohm," or as I always define it, "the sound of god" or maybe "the sound believed to be spoken to create the universe and life." Which is sort of accurate but not really. That's the easy explanation. Research the long one(s) if you want to. Ohm or Aum is basically a meditation word/symbol used in Buddhism, Hinduism, and a few other Eastern religions. Plus yoga. People often recognize the Ohm symbol but don't associate it with anything outside of yoga. I've never done yoga.

It's the hardest tattoo to explain to people. Part of it is that I don't fully understand it -- nor do I particularly want to. I just know it's right for me. The other thing is that I don't really want to get into the whole bit of it (religion, etc) unless I feel like it'll be worth my time. I don't even have a good one-line answer to what this tattoo means, or why I got it (like I do with all my other tattoos). So, on the same night, I got the best and worst tattoos for small talking. All for a cheap price and with George, who has only that one tattoo but with luck and some convincing from me, she'll soon have another.
  • My problem with the tattoos are that the lines aren't sharp. Especially on the Ohm one, there's not good spacing between the top part of the tattoo and the bottom. Kills me. This was, surprisingly, the tattoo that hurt the most, as he carved near the elbow.

  • Now that I've decided to live with less then perfect tattoos, it seems like all the ones that are a little bit off and bother me are on the right side of my body. Which leads me to believe that it's just fate. The right side of me is irregular anyway so maybe that's what the tattoos are signifying.

  • When I got the Virgo, the tattoer thought it was odd that I wanted the symbol facing towards me, facing in, on my wrist. He said that most people want it the right side up when their arms are down and facing the world. Not me, in a sign that I'm obviously stuck on myself, I wanted my tattoo facing in so that it would be right side up when I looked at it.

  • If there's any cosmic significance to which way my yin-yang faces (in or out), as two friends once wondered, I guess the answer is that the black side it away from me and the white's toward me.

    • Labels:





    Hey DJ, Keep Playing that Song  

    Tuesday, May 15 : 7:07 AM : 0 comments :
    As I mentioned before, I'm in the process of revolutionalizing how (often) I listen to my music. I already have an iPod, a 15-gig that I'm reluctant to trade in because (a) it was a gift (b) it still works fine and (c) the scroll wheel is so much quicker to use than current models. The problem with lugging around an iPod is that it's not very convenient. I know, sounds stupid. An iPod is super convenient. But I demand better. Since cybernetics haven't advanced yet to the point where I can implant a music device in my body, I want the next best thing.

    I had always shied away from the Shuffle because constant badgering from my Apple guru James told me that to buy anything less than the top of the line iPod was a waste. It was true, one gig of music didn't seem like a lot of songs. On top of that, two years ago, I had purchased a mobiBlu Cube, which I've used like twice. The Cube is pretty cool except the interface just isn't that user friendly and it's a little difficult to wear around all the time.

    Then came the new Shuffle, which was tiny and perfect for people looking to jam and work out at the same time. Problem was, I don't work out. Pass. Plus the grey color of the Shuffle tended to get lost in the um, shuffle.

    Of course, there's a reason millions of Shuffles are sold. I figured it out. They're not iPod alternatives; they're to have in addition to a full featured iPod. A colorful new Shuffle is the perfect size to carry around with you at all times. At eighty bucks, you can kick it, drop it, lose it, and not get too upset. I won't carry my iPod (which I even got for free) sometimes because I know how much it would pain me to lose it. Not the case with a Shuffle. It's totally replaceable!

    So I recently purchased a Shuffle, initially with the idea of wearing an athletic wristband and just slipping it under there at all times. I figured I could be Robo-DJ. This turned out to be a bit unwieldy. My bicep was getting jealous of the half-inch bulge on my forearm and I didn't want to deflate its self-confidence any further so I purchased a lanyard to hang the Shuffle from. Perfect.

    You'll note that the lanyard I purchased is about as unattractive as a lanyard can get -- plus it's Roxy. No self respecting thief is going to be taking this thing; plus it's so colorful nobody will not remember it's mine. I hesitate to use "genius" but I'll say it now, "genius." I've made my Shuffle lost, stolen, and masculine-proof.

    The real kicker is that in conjunction to carrying my Shuffle with me at all times, I'll be carrying a 2-gig flash drive (purchased at RadioShack for a mere $30) with me on another lanyard -- or a Pokemon keychain currently. Now I've got all my favorite albums in one pocket, ready to give away to worthy acquantainces and friends. I'll be a roving Johnny Music-seed. I'll spread the gospel of song everywhere I go and for under $100 I've totally changed my life.

    In my man-purse, should I be carrying it, I'll also have earphone splitters (so me and a friend can share), maybe some travel speakers, and when I'm rich, another Shuffle for a really needy friend. That's it! I'll be a music genie, ready to give must-have albums to anyone with an iPod or a laptop. I'll also be more likely invited on short road trips since I'll be able to plug-and-play instantly.

    I also plan to have one earphone in my head at all times, which is kind of rude I know, but to be honest, I can listen to you better with music as background noise anyway. Forget social politeness and convention. If you can't keep me from getting lost in music I've heard a thousand times already, should we really be conversing anyway?
    Current albums loaded onto my flash drive:
    GangStarr - Moment of Truth
    Jason Mraz - Live
    Lauryn Hill - Best of and J.Period
    Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
    Roots - Best of and Homegrown
    Shippopatamus - a hip hop compilation
    Soulstice - a soul compliation
    Kanye West - Best of and Remixes
    Jay-Z - Unplugged
    Alanis Morissette - Unplugged
    Wicked - Soundtrack
    Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (just purchased)
    and a few other singles and gems that I have to have with me at all times.



    Eraserhead  

    Friday, May 11 : 4:32 AM : 0 comments :
    The most romantic movie to all time I've decided? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I tend to dwell in the past a lot. I've always been a pack rat; saving pictures, scraps of paper, writing down details of an evening, everything. I tend to save, or attempt to remember, as many seemingly insignificant things as possible.

    I've still got this little origami box dating all the way back to kindergarten; I'm hoping to return it to my best friend from back then. I saw her at her/our prom (over ten years ago) and I thought of that box. Shame I didn't have it on me. Would've cleared some mental and physical desk space.

    Anyway, in the movie, Jim Carrey has to collect every item from his life that reminds him of Kate Winslet. The purpose of this is to create a memory map of where she's traveled within his life (and thus his mind). Of course, he collects his trinkets to ultimately forget her; I collect mine to remember everyone. That's the way it is with mementos isn't it? We collect to remember others but really the purpose behind it all is to remind us of our past selves, right?
    "Fuhgeddaboudit"
    I recently asked an ex-girlfriend if she regretted going out with me. That's the question every ex asks, even if silently or briefly. Actually I didn't say "regret," because life is to be lived -- according to self help books and adrenaline pumping commercials -- with no regrets. I asked her if it was "worth it." Was it worth the joy/pain, in way retrospect? They say hindsight is 20-20 right? Her answer was, well, her answer was her answer. My answer to myself? It probably wasn't worth it, because the path less traveled seems so much better now, from my current perspective.

    The real question surrounding time travel is not how it could be done (there are quite a few relatively logical theories already) but rather how things would be a/effected. To paraphrase, if you killed the butterfly before it flapped its wings in Africa, would there still be a storm in the Caribbean? The safe science fiction answer is that you can't change the past. Another butterfly would flap their wings and the same storm would occur, life and civilization goes on as ordained. But in comic book land, you can -- and should -- change the present by altering the past. So which is it? Can you or can't you?

    That's the real reason to live life without regrets isn't it? Because we're not sure what would happen if we selectively erased some memories and kept others. We're afraid of losing parts of ourselves that may hinge on a painful experience from the past. No pain, no gain. I read something the other day about how humans are deluded into thinking that they are really the same person/being throughout their life.

    The theory is that we're actually totally different people occupying the same physical body day after day. Which is kind of true if you think about it. Once you eliminate the ideal of linear causality and the desire for rational action from a person, it's a lot easier to deal with them. No more questions of "why'd they do that, you always do this, etc" Then again, that kind of philosophy would make it pretty hard to trust anybody since you'd have no past actions to evaluate and subsequently project into the present.
    "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive.

    But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's looking for my own peace of mind."

    Old people talk about the past a lot because it's the "good old days." That makes sense, their remaining days are limited, the good old days are probably literally their good (old) days. Young people tend to only talk about the past when they don't have much to say to each other in the present; and they have too flimsy a hold on their future to really get into any worthwhile discussions concerning ambiguous events far down the line.

    I've found that people my age who tend to dwell in the past are often seen as not able to "let go" or "move on." Like Al Bundy's four touchdown game. Usually, these glory days equate to college. I have a friend who feels like our college years will, in the end, be the high point of our lives (not the highlight, just the high point). I agree, to an extent. A good college experience is unforgettable and shapes the entire rest of our journeys but how sad that the high point should come so early in our lives? Are there no higher mountain peaks to ascend to? No more streams to be forded? No more rainbows?

    So until things get unequivocally better, it's best we hang onto our knick-knacks and photographs and download and reinforce memories with each other. Some day we'll all be eighty and we'll want to talk about the good old days, but we won't really know where to start or where to end so we'll need those momentos. Wouldn't that be great?
    "Well, technically speaking, the operation is brain damage, but it's on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss."



    Ultimate DDT  

    Wednesday, May 9 : 1:21 AM : 0 comments :
    Do you know what my favorite group game is? DDT

    The term is coined by Amit I believe. Or something like that. Nobody knows where FMK, DDT, DP on the GP, the Music Game, Squabble ,etc comes from but the point is: it's here.

    DDT officially stands for "Deep Dark Talk." Now, that could also be the directions: "Discuss, Describe, Terminate." Or "Distill, Define, Toocoolforschool." My favorite visualization of what a DDT session is really about? Jake the Snake, a DDT to the head. Knock you right out. But our DDTs, you wake up feeling better than ever.

    Sometimes, DDTs are nano-DDTs, failed-DDTs, intervention-DDTs, dissemination-DDTs, resurrected-DDTs, etc. The categories are endless. The point is: DDTs are when the games stop. Supposedly. Deep and Dark and Talk are supposed to also involve Fun and New and Amazing. Which also serves to describe the types of friendships that emerge after a well executed DDT.

    The best? Legendary DDTs, the ones that people talk about year after year. Like the time a dozen near strangers, tied together only by ECASU, spoke frankly and openly about (it sounds cliche, i know) s-e-x. Yeah. Like "How many have you...." "Do guys really?...." "Why are girls so?....." Fun times. DDT times.

    Super DDTs scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend 2007, New York (May 25-29). Said the spread shotgun to the head: Wanna play?



    The New Hyperwest  

    Tuesday, May 8 : 12:44 AM : 0 comments :
    Almost six years after I started hyperwest.net, I'm ready for a re-design and a re-purpose. In Internet years that means I'm a very old dog learning new tricks. Just buying a domain in 2001 felt big, even though millions of people were already on that wagon. Buying your own domain in 1997, that would have been pioneering; I just jumped on the wagon.

    Tragically, up until a month ago, I was paying the same $15 a month I was paying then -- for 100 megs of space. I finally came to my senses, cancelled the Yahoo hosting and am now hosted for free. Plus I purchased three additional domains because the things are now like $10 a year. Get some domains now, it's the way of the future. Buy your name quick, before somebody else does.

    At first, hyperwest just pointed to my personal home page and blog. I couldn't code worth shit so I was pretty limited in my designs. Soon afterward, I decided that I should use hyperwest to manage the dozens of blogs that were springing up in my friendosphere -- haha, that's a play on words, get it (cough, dork)?

    Since that revelation to use hyperwest as a portal to reach other people's blogs and to share websites I frequented, it hasn't really changed. I used to have a ranking system -- based mainly on how often somebody posted -- but after awhile, everyone stopped blogging, even the Royals. Hyperwest became a repository for dead to almost-dead blogs. A blogging graveyard essentially. Sad isn't it? If hyperwest were a Wii, all my friends have left and are no longer wandering around or cheering from the stands. No more Miis.

    But hey, I still had the strangers/people I stalked right? I've literally been blog stalking certain people forever. Ever since I discovered blogging (late 2000), I've had certain sites that I've religiously read. Only in the last few months have I even attempted to broach that real life/Internet life barrier. I liked to keep a distance between me and the people I read online. Usually I'm the first in line to meet and greet strangers but with these blog stalkees, I just thought distance was best. That bubble has burst, for the best, and hyperwest has no good use for it anymore. Especially when it's so much easier to just subscribe to feeds to keep up with updates.

    The best thing to come out of all this blogging is that my West and East (Mid-West) Coast friends were introduced to each other prior to actually meeting. I got a childish thrill whenever friends would physically meet and say "Oh, you're High Entropy! You're Mr Filipno!" I loved it. Nothing is more fun than clashing disparate groups of friends; especially when they can be introduced by blogger codenames. I'm still waiting on dpma to make it stateside.

    Anyway, that golden period is over so now I've decided to take hyperwest to the next logical level, as a blog that will replace all my other blogs. No more anachronic or diorama. No more movie or book blogs. No more little random blogs that spring up here and there. I'm ready to commit and stick with just one (blog).

    The portal style is still available -- mainly because I love the highlighted bloggers' excerpts -- but it's being moved off the front page. I also used to have spotlights of people on hyperwest so here's a short sampling of those:
    human amoeba. "a single-celled organism designed only to eat." the amoeboid is back. with a vengeance. after a ten month break, the mono-celled one returned to post one of the longest blog entries ever. with chapters, subtitles, themes, foreshadowing, the whole works, it was an epic blog and with it, the return of eric back into blogville. kick back, relax, have a sip of gummi berry juice, share the world of the amoeba. be prepared to be astonished, entertained, enlightened, tickled, and if that isn't enough, well...we got nothing better.

    babiegoose. d-d-d-danger, watch behind you - there's a stranger out to find you. what to do? just grab onto some duck tales, oo-oo! not pony tails or cotton tails but duck tales, oo-oo! when it seems they're headed for the final curtain, bold deduction never fails, that's for certain, the worst of messes become successes! duck tales, oo-oo. crap. wrong fowl. but babiegoose is the home of ryan and lorie (they're engaged!) and they are more fun than ducks! and they have tales! go read their history and marvel at how two people found each other. go visit the site and just marvel. what are you doing here? go!

    lil'ho. it's the lil'ho kids, turn away, this show is defnitely not pg-13. bring your fake ids and cheesy pick up lines please. with more sass, spunk, swerve, and stories, you'll be sure to want a lil'ho of your very own. she is the style behind dave's son and the morning wake up rooster-ette at hotel pan. she is your bread buttered on both sides and the cherry on top. she's like personality personified. she is your superlative. she just may be a popular game console, shhhh. and she downs a mean beer bong too. the lil'ho may like pink and baby blue but that doesn't mean she has to like you. oh by the way, her last name is ho. sickos.

    couch banshee. what's louder than a siren? more opinionated than your mom? yes, it's christina. one half of the sloth duo masquerading as "the banshees," xtina had to be coerced into the blogosphere but now that she has settled in, she's on a blog roll. funny pun intended. blog roll! with an addiction to dvd sets and attention to pop cultural minutiae, christina is my lifeline for all facts real people wouldn't bother knowing. her rants and raves are gold but you may never know it since she may not deem you worthy. "i'm not anti-social, just a-social, there's a difference." for this couch banshee, target isn't just a store, it's a way of life.

    And for one more blast from the past, "The Best Cartoon Ever Invitational Tourney," courtesy of (the now defunct) Pogiboy.



    Reduce, Redux, Refine  

    Sunday, May 6 : 9:03 PM : 0 comments :
    I got back up to the Bay on Wednesday and since then I've been streamlining my life and more importantly, my electronic existence. I have like ten email addresses. Seriously. Maybe eight that I use regularly but then a few junk ones I have to check periodically. I'm not admitting this to brag since no social cachet is earned from "Hey, I have more email addresses than that guy, wanna be friends?" but to reveal that I have a problem.

    During my hallucinations when I knew everything about the world and purpose of all the little creatures within it, I realized that I compartamentalize everything. Most importantly, I compartamentalize my friends, my faux-secrets, my family, my life, my everything. I'm like the human version of Crate and Barrel -- or a Chinese nesting doll. I have folders inside folders, boxes inside boxes, and shelves hidden underneath shelves. I love things that hold other things; it's a sickness. It's a Virgo thing. This is all fun and games until I actually need to actually find something; or more importantly, when someone else has to find something without me.

    I'm of the opinion that you can't have enough of a good thing. Love Gmail? Get six. Like this type of friend? Split and double down. Why have one when you can have five? It's kind of a problem. It speaks of defensive mechanisms, insecurity, and a fear of loss, but that's another story. Anyway, I've decided to make my "office" entirely mobile.

    How do I do this? I'll start by making my music portable as hell. I'll go into more depth later but the iPod Shuffle has really revolutionalized my life. $100 has completely changed the way I absorb my music. It's so deep I need to dedicate an entire post to my new status as "Music Ninja." I also need to find a better term for that. "Music Ninja" sounds pretty stupid. "Music Ambassador" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either.

    Clearly, I don't really need an office -- just a friendly couch, cable tv, and the Internet -- but humor me while I attempt to make my life office worthy. I've already been using Gmail as my online storage. I email things from one account to the other so I have a copy of any file I need -- plus everything is time stamped, which is infinitely useful.

    That means any computer I sit down at, I download Firefox and AIM to get up and running. I just found out about Meebo, which eliminates the need to download AIM. I've decided to use my Sidekick as the hub that will hold my spokes together. I was already doing that but not hardcore. Now I'm hardcore. If you thought I loved my Sidekick (too much) before, that was nothing. I should look into cybernetically implanting a Shuffle and Sidekick into my body somewhere. Not that I have a lot of real estate...

    Anyway, here's what I've decided to use to run my new (mainly Google powered) life:

    I also found out about Google Browser Sync from this new blog, fortuitous. It's kind of ridiculous. You can essentially log into any computer (with Internet access) and have everything set up just like you had it at home -- or vice versa. With this new tool, I discovered the power of using bookmarks. It's ridiculous. I feel like a new man. I test ran Browser Sync for a few days and it may just change my life. Like whoa. Check it out.

    The thing I need to do first is come up with a new password system/hierarchy, the old one is now totally useless. With this infrastructure in place, I hope to be truly nomadic -- in spirit if not literally. I'lll walk the Earth, meet people, get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."
    "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

    And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
    -Ezekiel 25:17-





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