Welcome to Carrying Stones.
You’re intelligent and curious, not to mention good-looking, so I know you’ll keep coming back to see where this ride takes you.
I suggest you start with the blog and stay up to date by subscribing to the RSS feed. If feeds aren’t your thing, follow @CarryingStones on Twitter to be notified about updates to the blog. Then, feel free to learn more about me or thumb through the archives on the search page. You can even buy stuff I’ve already certified as useful and cool.
What can I expect from Carrying Stones?
Carrying Stones shares my thoughts about my family, how I strive to be productive, public education, Apple devices running Mac OS X and iOS and the software that makes them purr for me, and general gadget-related geekery. Please note the standard rules apply; the opinions I share here are my own and not those of my employer, my family, my friends, my dog Sam, or anyone else.
Family
Life would be meaningless without my family. They are awesome and I love them, so you can expect to hear stories about them.
General geekery
I’m a gadget junkie who loves his third-generation Kindle. Get a peek at what I’ve been reading at Findings.
Productivity
As a basically lazy person I have big dreams of being productive and subscribe to a loose version of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy.
The biggest help for reaching that goal comes from the software ninjas at Omni Group. OmniFocus has saved my bacon more than once. If you’re a Mac nerd who needs to get things done, OmniFocus is tops.
Public education
Public education is important to me not only because I work in communications for a public school district, but because teaching people to love learning helps them remain foolish enough to always reach for their dreams.
Apple Inc., Mac OS, and iOS
I prefer Apple products and my bias is clear, so if you find the absence of commentary about other computing platforms irksome it may be time to gather your belongings and exit the car safely to the right.
A Mac of some form or fashion has consistently been my computer of choice since replacing my i386 with an Apple Performa 6116CD in the fall of 1995. For the curious, my current computer is an aging MacBook augmented by a first-generation iPad and an iPhone 4S. Everyone in my family primarily uses Macs except for my son, the only avid gamer in the house.
In addition to periodic rambling about hardware, you can expect to read a fair bit about the apps that run on my Apple devices. My top apps by device are:
- Mac
- iPhone
- iPad
- 1Password for security
- Flipboard and Zite for casual consumption
- Instacast HD for podcasts
- iThoughts HD and Writing KitWriting Kit for writing
- OmniFocus for iPad
- Twitterrific for iPad
In my ears
My iTunes library includes more than 28 days of music from all genres. Lately, I’ve been hooked on Rdio when I’m parked in my home office. Instacast rules my 30-minute commute to work and home again, usually with something from Dan Benjamin’s 5by5 podcasting empire. Top podcasts and their respective hosts include:
- Back to Work cohosted by Merlin Mann (@hotdogsladies) & Dan Benjamin (@danbenjamin)
- Cocktail Napkin hosted by Jeremy Fuksa (@3rdmartini)
- Geek Friday cohosted by Faith Korpi (@faitherina) & Dan Benjamin (@danbenjamin)
- Hypercritical cohosted by John Siracusa (@siracusa) & Dan Benjamin (@danbenjamin)
- Let’s Make Mistakes cohosted by Mike Monteiro (@Mike_FTW) & Katie Gillum (@slowtext)
- Mac Power Users cohosted by Katie Floyd (katiefloyd) & David Sparks (@macsparky)
- Roderick on the Line cohosted by Merlin Mann (@hotdogsladies) & John Roderick (@johnroderick)
- The Talk Show cohosted by John Gruber (@gruber) & Dan Benjamin (@danbenjamin), and occasionally
- The Moth Podcast
Support Carrying Stones
Hey! Drop me a line! Want to sponsor Carrying Stones? Let’s talk. Just contact the Commerce Department.