I was walking from the office to my car today, it’s about a half mile. I park there because I can’t justify buying a parking pass for $90/month just to park for work; I feel like many share my sentiment but arn’t willing to walk the half mile to work every day (especially in the cold). I don’t so much mind it, I get some exercise, so it’s nice on days I don’t make it to the gym.

Anyway, that’s not to point of this post. I haven’t written anything in a while and I have a large writing project coming up, so you could say I’m stretching out my fingers right now.

So, here we go… I was walking to my car from work today, all bundled up with the gloves and hat I got for christmas, vitamin C running through my viens to fight off any cold, and the wind burning my face. I came to the corner of Babcock St in Boston and started crossing as a car whipped around the corner and my thoughts were “Wow, I hope I don’t get hit, today.”

Note the word “today“. Normally, you’d think “Is tomorrow a better day to get hit by a car?” Sorta, yea.

Here’s what I was going through my head at that moment:

1. It’s really cold.
2. A car is coming at me
3. I’m pretty sure I can make it to the curb at my current walking pace w/o getting hit
4. I wish I had tightened my belt more this morning.

I put all those together and thought if I got hit by a car I’d be lying in the road… which is mostly likely really cold asphalt; my pants are a little loose so if I land on my back my shirt will probably come untucked and my bare skin would be right on the cold road.

So that’s why I didn’t want to get hit by a car today… I didn’t want the cold road touching that little bit of exposed flesh when your shirt pulls up a bit. And I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason.

Brb, I’m gonna go eat some pasta, then write a book.

1. Old School Pizza in Wellesley, MA
2. When Pigs Fly in Kittery, ME
3. Mama Mia’s in (various), MA
4. Area Four in Cambridge, MA
5. The Cape Code Cafe in Brockton, MA *
6. Bill’s Pizzeria in Newton, MA *
7. Caserta Pizzeria in Providence, RI
8. Fiorellla’s in Newton, MA
9. [Great 8] Krueger Flatbread in Haverhill, MA *
10. [Great 8] Orta in Pembroke, MA
11. [Great 8] Wicked in Dedham, MA *
12. [Great 8] Corner Grill in Worcester, MA
13. [Great 8] Lynnwood Cafe in Randolph, MA
14. [Great 8] Galleria Umberto, North End, Boston, MA
15. [Great 8] Penguin Pizza, Mission Hill, Boston, MA
16. [Great 8] Oggi Gourmet in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
17. Benevento’s in North End, Boston, MA
18. Flatbread Company in Davis Square, Somerville, MA *
19. North End Treats in Framingham, MA
20. Tavolino in Foxbroro, MA
21. Cambridge 1 in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
22. [Great 8] The Upper Crust in Boston, MA
23. [Great 8] The Brown Jug in Chelsea, MA
24. [Great 8] Manny’s Bakery in Revere, MA
25. Ale House in Amesbury, MA

* plan to try this place

• Most people take their jobs way too seriously (health care professions excluded).
• The FDA is riddled with crooks and shouldn’t be trusted.
• At some point in the past 100 years this country (U.S.) completely lost it’s character and became too focused on money/greed.
• Hard work should be rewarded, but rarely is.
• People matter quite a bit.
• Sometimes stuff just happens.
• Social networking is amazingly anti-social.
• A good leader knows when to let someone else lead.
• Perfection is boring as crap but trying to perfect something is fun.
• Old people have an answer to basically every problem you can have.
• On the same note: most problems are stupid and once you realize that, you’ll stress a lot less.
• Fear in 2011 is completely misguided.
• Even small life adjustments take time to get used to – and that’s ok.

Well, I certainly have more than that, but I think that’s a good amount of out-of-context statements for now.

I go through earbuds like crazy, like a pair a month, maybe 2 months if I’m careful. I don’t know if it’s what I’m doing, the quality of them or a design problem with earbuds in general. But damn.

It could be that by creativity is waning as I get older, but I’m not really old, just 29. I guess it could fade a little. I don’t think that’s it, I still feel pretty creative. My passion could be diminishing, that’s a distinct possibility; but I do still very much enjoy pulling up a chair at a local coffee shop and dumping the contents of my brain onto a keyboard (much like I’m doing now).

I’m sitting here in Brighton, MA at CafeNation sipping my Mocha Latte (spare me the condescending thoughts), all that’s missing is an untucked plaid button-down shirt and thick black glasses.

I signed up for this writing challenge. More of a personal challenge to get myself in the habit of writing again. It’s on 750words.com . It sends me daily reminders to write at least 750 words a day. I’ve been doing it for about a month and a half and I’ve only completed 2 days. It’s something you have to force yourself to do. With all the garbage surrounding a cross-country move, apartment hunting, settling into a new job, blah, blah, blah, I have to remind myself about the things I’m interested in.

I like building Web sites, I like writing, I like speaking, and I’m starting to like to read for fun more and more. I have to remind myself of these things because frankly, I don’t feel like doing any of them right now. I force myself to write, design sites for fun, speak and read; and I feel better for it. I even do some math exercises to keep up that side of my brain. I does help, I’ve been a lot more relaxed since I’ve forced myself into doing things I enjoy. Its the difference between losing interest in something and making myself do it even though I don’t feel like it; in my head I know it’s something I’ve enjoyed recently in the past so naturally I assume I’ll enjoy it in the future.

Some day I’m sure I won’t like doing some of that stuff, but I don’t want it to be because of laziness, I want it to because I’ve genuinely moved on to something else.

I’ve decided that writer’s block has nothing to do with a mental state, writing starts in your hands. I’m not really writing about anything special, but breaking through the wall is all about moving your fingers and typing whatever you want, it doesn’t matter, you just have to force yourself to get the wheels moving.

So, in a nutshell, I have this list of things in my head that I know I like to do and I force myself to do them. And ya know what? It turns out that I actually know myself pretty well, so when I’m all done forcing myself to do something… I usually feel a lot better than I did beforehand.

I really didn’t feel like driving to a coffee shop today, but I did because I know I like the atmosphere and how I’m able to focus and get some stuff done (even if it’s just writing a stupid blog post). I’m sure I’ll feel better after doing this than I would if I stayed cooped up in my apartment doing the same thing. It’s nice to get out, you know it, I know it, so why don’t we do it more?

I have yet to reach my 750 word goal, looking at the counter, I’m about 100 words away. I’m going to push forward though (see? forcing myself).

I think this coffee shop, I don’t like driving to it, but as far as coffee shops go, it’s a good one. I got really spoiled in Santa Monica having a great place only a block away. I need to stop comparing everything to “the way it was”, overall, so far Boston is pretty good. It obviously has it’s downside (weather, cost of living, apartment hunting) but so did LA (smog, traffic, cost of living). But whatever, ever since I applied to Virginia Tech, I’ve been going where ever life takes me, Raleigh, LA, Boston. Might as well keep doing it.

That was a quick 100 words.

• Danny Glover
• Anthony Michael Hall
• Diego Luna
• Seymour Cassel
• Jessica Simpson
• Wayne Static
• Jeffery Tambor
• Jim Rash

I’ll add to this list if I remember any more.

So yes, life is short.

But only when you turn around and look at it. But if you keep looking forward, you got alotta years to think about.

If you don’t think like life is long, if you live everyday like life is short, you know what you become? An asshole.

Go buy yourself a die cut Calvin sticker to put on the back of your truck ’cause you-are-an-asshole.

You gotta live your life like life is long, you gotta live your life like someday soon you’re gonna hit some miserable Tuesday night that’s just gonna seem to go on for days and days and days.

Waiting,either, for some phone call to come that doesn’t come or some phone calls to stop that won’t stop.

‘Cause life as it’s laid out in front of you seems to go on forever, but look back to when you were 4 and it seems like last Sunday.

So just keep looking forward and keep your good heart on ya, and keep doing the best you can do, and love who you love the best you can love.

• The Oil Spill
• The Economy
• Baseball in 2010
• Lebron James

I don’t like complaining about stuff unless I can offer a solution, so I’ll try and offer some lame solution to anything that merits one.

The Oil Spill

I feel like this has taken a backseat to a lot of stuff and it probably shouldn’t. Those people in New Orleans get crapped on more times than anyone I’ve ever seen. I bet after this is all cleaned up, people will still be clamoring for more drilling… really? What’s it going to take to stop? An oil spill covering Wall Street?

I bet if all the executives for Goldman-Sachs (who now occupy many of the spots in the US Treasury) lost their homes to flooding or they couldn’t work because a ball of crude oil exploded in their office they’d have a different attitude. God forbid they lose that million dollar pay check right? But it’s alright for a fisherman to lose his home. Pretty messed up way to run things.

Solution: To the top 1% – Stop being jerks, how much money do you really need? “Throw more money at it” is not a solution to anything.

The Economy

What a miserable time to be starting out in the workforce. I feel fortunate that I have a stable job and we didn’t have any layoffs when the economy (especially in California) seemed to be dictating it. I think that’s pretty rare in a company now-a-days. To my knowledge, we didn’t lose any benefits either.

The homeless population in Los Angeles has noticeably increased in the last 2 years I’ve been here. I can’t even walk 2 miles to the movie theater without passing 5-10 homeless people. The state is of no help, they’re laying people off in record numbers and raising taxes. We have the highest population of movie stars and musicians in the country here, so how about you tax guys like Will Farrell (no idea if he actually lives in LA) more and leave the little guy alone? The taxation structure in this country is so out of whack and protected by big-business, I’m not sure if it’ll ever get back to a stable point; especially not under the current structure.

Solution: I didn’t realize this until recently, but apparently in the 50s the tax rate on the wealthy was upwards of 90%. And that money was used to build roads, better schools, and better lives for a lot of people. Everyone was happy until corporate America took over and drastically reduced the tax rate on themselves to where it currently is (not sure what the number is). So the economy started into a gradual free-fall to where we are today: The rich have and want more money than they could ever need and the poor are poorer than they have ever been. The top 1% in this country have more money than the bottom 95% combined. The gap between the rich and poor will continue to grow until something big changes. Maybe raise that tax rate again? I dunno.

Baseball in 2010

I love it, the pitchers are back. I’m just hoping that everything is on the level and they’re not using some designer drug to gain an edge. The good hitters are still hitting and the good pitchers are insane. I’ve never really seen anything like it, I bet this is what it was like before they lowered the mound.

Also, I think Bud Selig should do something positive for the game or step down. Honestly, the guy is basically spineless.

Solution: Stop molding the playoff around the Fox TV schedule, if they want to televise the games they should adhere to the schedule, not the other way around.

Stop making the all-star game mean something, these players may only work March to October but they still deserve a few days off. How do we reward the best of the best? We make them work really hard over their vacation. I’d be pissed if I was reward for my work by having to come in on my day off and it wasn’t laid-back/relaxing.

Baseball needs a salary cap, screw the union, let them go on strike. Salaries are out of control. Make the cost of everyone go down. Heck, put a cap on the cost of a soda and a novelty bat. It’s ridiculous what’s happening out there… and once again: how much money do these people really need? I think a cap of $100MIL a year for a team is more than reasonable. And it’ll only effect 8 teams (including my Red Sox).

Lebron James

This is exactly what the country has turned in to. Everyone taking their person goals as #1 and reaching them at all costs. That being said, Cleveland is miserable so I can’t fault him for leaving, I would have done the same thing, no one wants to live in the same place their whole lives. I think Miami was a lame, cop-out choice, but whatever.

If I was Lebron, I think I would have went to Orlando, a good team but not a guaranteed championship, I mean… you have to complete a little, right? There has to be some challenge or you get bored really fast.

It’s unfortunate that Cleveland is a borderline slum at this point, and without Lebron they’ll probably dip to the levels of Detroit. But we learn at a very young age: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Security guard in the mornings

This guy is great, I see him maybe once a week. I come into work around 7am and every morning he’s working he looks at me and proclaims “Hey man! What’s up?”. And I respond with a “Nothing man, how’s it goin’?”. This the extent of my interactions with this gentleman, and it’s a great way to start the day.

Cleaning lady at work

I see the cleaning lady every morning and every morning she says “good morning” with a smile and a broken-English accent. This lady is very nice and seems pretty genuine in her “good mornings”. Every once in a while she’ll kick me out of my cube to vacuum. I haven’t used the trash can or recycle bin in my cube in 2 years because I don’t want her to have an extra trash to worry about; I just use the main one near the break station.

I may get her a Christmas present.

Guy with the long arms

There’s a guy I pass at work on my way from (never to) the bathroom. He has really long arms. I’m talking like he can put his hands on his knees without bending over. Anyway, this guy’s pretty great.

Crazy wheelchair lady

This is a homeless lady who lives on my street. It’s a sad story, don’t get me wrong and I wish her the best. The wheelchair isn’t because she can’t walk or anything, it’s acting more like a shopping cart as it just carries her things and she pushes it around. Every once in a while when I’m out around 6am I see her getting a morning workout in by boxing the air. It’s hard not to smile.

Van guy

The van guy has been living in a van outside of my work on and off for 2 years now. I think he brings character to the area. Most people don’t like him because he goes to the bathroom in a bucket and leaves it on the sidewalk (but really, where else can he put it?). I’m pretty sure he’d knife me if I tried to talk to him.

Initially I was slated to speak for about 60mins to 50 or so people and I had the presentation all laid out (for the most part), it was going to be a fairly casual thing and I was hoping to engage in more of a conversation with the audience as it’s more of a classroom setting. And I felt pretty good about that until they moved the talk into a larger room to accomodate the popularity.

First off, I think that’s awesome, and I’m totally pumped to try and educate more people about HTML 5 and the direction of the Web. But it caused me to trash my entire presentation and rebuild it for a larger audience. Which is fine, I don’t have a problem with that at all; it just adds to the intensity a little now that it’s 18 days away and I’m still building what I hope will be a great talk.

I always get nervous before speaking, so it’s nothing new to get butterflies – especially speaking to a good size crowd at a conference. But I think it’s pretty awesome talking to someone who is taking notes about what you’re saying. It can be a little intimidating, but I like it. I’m usually nervous until about 30 seconds into a speech/talk and then I’m fine. I actually kinda like public speaking and that intense nervous feeling when you crack the first awkward joke wondering if anyone’s going to laugh. Let me tell you, if you get that laugh early, the rest of the talk will be easy as pie. If you don’t… you’re in for a wild ride.

Alright, well… I just got 3 wisdom teeth removed. I apparently don’t have a 4th one, so that’s good.

I feel fine, not loopy, no pain (yet). Hoping to be back working tomorrow, but time will tell.

Let’s see… what else… the doctor was cool, funny guy. He said I wouldn’t remember the name of his friend at Virginia Tech, so if a Hokie named “Paul” is reading this, your boy thinks you’re a cool dude.

They made me take out my earring, I think it’s in my pocket, I’m kinda on the fence about putting it back in since I have no plans to be that 40 year old guy with an earring, I might just leave it out.

I guess this post isn’t as entertaining as I had hoped.

Oh, and I saved the teeth…

It makes it very difficult to eat, talk, and basically move my jaw much at all. Fortunately I know what the problem is, unfortunately I’m well aware that it’s my wisdom teeth.

I haven’t gotten them removed yet for a few reasons:

• Last time I was at the dentist, he said that they weren’t impacted so I didn’t really need to get them out unless they were bothering me. And to be fair, they really don’t bother me all that much, just for a week every 6 months or so
• I have since avoided the dentist as to not get a contradictory opinion on the matter
• There are very few things I hate more than missing work due to an illness. When I left my last job, I think I had around 180 hrs of unused sick time, and here at USC I’ve maxed out my sick days at 12. I just don’t like taking sick days, it’s not like I work construction, if I have a laptop and can sit up under my own power, there’s a good chance I can work through it.

Spending the last 3 or 4 days popping ibuprofen, barely talking, and icing the right side of my head (frozen water, not covering my head in cake frosting) has made me think that I might very well need to get, at least 1 or 2 of these teeth removed.

At least I’ll be a few ounces lighter afterwards.

If I do decide to get them out I plan to blog about it shortly after, depending on the medication they give me, I think it could be a pretty entertaining post. So look forward to that.

Also, I finally got a haircut yesterday, that’s the picture at the top.

posted at OkayTim

Here’s a short list of things that I think are worse than a punch in the face. In no particular order:

• Ice chips in milk because the fridge is too cold
• Lettuce on a day old sandwich
• Red light cameras
• Inaccurate DVR stopping during a fast forward
• People who stop in the middle of a busy sidewalk to look up
• Insurance of any kind

If someone told me I could get punched in the face and never have to deal with anything on the list again, I’d take it in a heartbeat.

I’m sure I’ll think of some more…

I have a lot of traveling in the coming months, lots of flying around and I just wanted to stop by and list out me stuff I’ll be doing so when I don’t reply to e-mail no one gets mad.

1. Nov. 26-Nov. 30 – Mrytle Beach, SC
2. Dec. 8 – Dec. 12 – New Orleans , LA
3. Dec. 24 – Dec. 30 – Myrtle Beach, SC
4. Dec. 30 – Jan. 4 – Boston, MA

I’ll leave you with a quote:

To me, it’s a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, Hey, can you give me a hand? You can say, Sorry, got these sacks. — Jack Handy