Carrying Stones

I’m with Eileen. Texting lingo such as “BFF” should not be included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

I’m not a big fan of acronyms, or abbreviations, or WYCT (whatever you call them). So you can imagine my dismay when I recently read a headline that said the New Oxford American Dictionary had added “BFF” to this year’s edition of the dictionary.
For those of you old-schoolers who actually speak using complete words, BFF stands for “best friend forever.” Kind of feels like the writing staff of “Hannah Montana” just picked up and moved their sparkly markers over to the New Oxford American Dictionary to work, if you ask me.

(Via Ragan.com)

That’s a lot of headers to update.

I use several tools to help me work on my Macs. Here is a little bit about those applications.

• Scrivener: This is the greatest writing application I’ve found on any platform. Scrivener is exquisite. Plenty of others have already done an outstanding job reviewing this application and expounding on its extensive set of features, and I am not going to replicate their work here.
  When you have time, go read about Scrivener and try out the demo.

• TextMate: The support for MultiMarkdown in this text editor is what continues to draw me to TextMate. I get my writing down in a Scrivener project to take advantage of its gorgeous full screen mode and let that application manage my files within a single writing project.
  When I need to add some markup code, I open the file in TextMate (or use the “Edit in TextMate” shortcut). That, coupled with TextExpander, helps me make short work of adding the code WordPress needs to make sense of the formatting I apply.
  Yes, I know the hosted WordPress.com I use does not accept MMD. TextMate allows me to convert the easy to use MMD code to the more confusing and time-consuming HTML code with a single shortcut. I copy and paste that into MarsEdit for tweaking the layout, adding photos from my Flickr page, and posting to my blog.

• Spirited Away: A ghost sits in my menubar to prevent applications from lurking in the background waiting to steal my attention. I have used Spirited Away in the past, but when I bought my first Intel MacBook, it was among the legacy PowerPC applications I purged from my system.
  Within the past couple of weeks, it bubbled up on my radar in native code and I immediately reinstalled it on my computer.
  The concept is simple. If an application loses my focus for 60 seconds (or whatever length of time works best for you), Spirited Away spirits it away by hiding it. This concentrates my focus on my work and helps me enjoy a great desktop background.

• iTunes: Ambient music and sounds help me focus. When I pair iTunes with headphones, I go to a very personal and focused place. Nothing helps me think better than this.

• Sheer force of will: I don’t use applications that bar access to certain applications, websites, or my Internet connection. I believe in my free will, not determinism, and I free myself not to use those applications and discipline myself to focus without their aid.

As I said in my last blog, I hope this article helps someone out there find a little more focus to finish a project.

After reading Leo Babauta’s book Focus I find myself wanting to reduce.
My life is full of stress, tasks, and stuff that pile up to build barriers between me and my goals. I need to focus, minimize, and I need to learn how to let things go. After clearing a path, I need to start. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. Starting.
Leo’s book has five sections:

1. Step Back
2. Clear Distractions
3. Simplify
4. Focus
5. Others

One reason I want to clarify my life is to let go of stress and focus on writing. Writers write. I spend more of my time whining that I don’t have the time to write than actually writing. Let me say it again.
Writers write.
I plan to allocate time each day to sit at my desk, put on my headphones with some ambient music, and write. There will be no cruising the Internet, reading Twitter, or scanning headlines during this special time. Notifications and alerts will be set to a minimum level (or turned off).
Self-imposed limitations are reducing the amount of time I spend rooting around in RSS and Twitter. I pruned both my list of news feeds and the Twitterers I follow. I also try to ferret out the most interesting items and send them to Instapaper for reading later; sometimes much later. My Instapaper list is quite long these days.
If my findings are timely, or if they include photos or video I want to enjoy on a bigger screen, I email them to myself to read when that bigger screen is available.
Much of what I write ends up posted on this blog, but I also want to focus on some fiction and non-fiction. I’ve got a folder of long-neglected ideas and false starts that are screaming for my return and attention.
When I was younger, I wanted the fame and money that would come with publishing The New Great American Southern Gothic Novel™. Now, I want to write because it’s what I love. It helps me focus my thoughts and, sometimes, it may even help someone else find their way.

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This post brought to you by Eight O’Clock Coffee, Leo Baubata, the DroneZone, and Saturday morning.

What isn’t suspicious in Wal-Mart?
Wal-Mart joins Homeland Security terror fight – U.S. news – Security – msnbc.com:

At least 200 Wal-Mart stores will roll out security announcements within 24 hours, Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said. By month’s end, 588 stores in 27 states will be participating in the program. A short video featuring Napolitano will appear on TV screens at select checkout lanes, asking Wal-Mart shoppers to contact local law enforcement to report suspicious activity.
“If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately,” Napolitano said in the video. “Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff. If you need help ask a Wal-Mart manager for assistance.”

(Via msnbc)

Julie and I finished watching Stargate Atlantis a couple of weeks ago. We enjoyed the space stuff and wanted to shift gears so we moved on to Battlestar Galactica (the 2003 version, not the original).
Wow. Galactica is a better show, like a grownup version of Stargate. The characters are flawed and complex. They have real personal problems, the struggle with relationships, and overcome believable problems as they race away from the Cylons. Politics, religion, and philosophy are woven through the stories.
So yes, we’re obsessed with watching this excellent series courtesy of Netflix.

Got this email from one of my favorite bands, the Floating Men. They say to spread their message far and wide so everyone can download their latest music for free! Two CDs. A rock opera! Get it now. Details below. You won’t regret it.

Happy holidays from The Floating Men! If you don’t already have Act I: No Clocks, No Calendars, scroll down and redeem the download coupon for a free download as a holiday gift from us.
CONCERT
Saturday, December 11: The Floating Men w/special guests Soul Crush, Rhythm and Brews, Chattanooga Tennessee. Advance tickets recommended, buy them here: http://www.ticketbiscuit.com/rhythm-brews/eventspotlight.aspx
FREE DOWNLOADS
To raise awareness for the World Premiere of The Sighing Hours, our rock opera, on stage in Nashville 2011, both original albums by The Floating Men may be downloaded FREE at www.floatingmen.com through December. Feel free to forward this email and share this link far and wide. According to Holmes, “We’ll give promotional downloads to everyone who is interested in helping or just wants to hear the music.”
FUNDRAISING UNDERWAY!
Thanks to everyone who has donated so far! The Sighing Hours is a HUGE and expensive rock opera to stage and we still need over $200,000 to meet our goals in the coming weeks. We’re counting on YOU to give or, if you’re poor like us, help us find folks who can. $5? $50? $50,000? Give what you can as soon as possible at www.thesighinghours.com
And remember, your business can help sponsor the World Premiere! Logo and endorsement exchanges for small businesses are very affordable at $25 and $50, depending on the option you choose at http://www.thesighinghours.com/get_involved_w_sighing_hours.html
Thanks and, again, happy holidays!!
Jeff and Scot on behalf of the entire Floating Men Family
To download the album “The Sighing Hours, Act I: No Clocks, No Calendars” for free, go to http://floatingmen.com/dl and enter the code vn9i-b82c

Beware incomprehensible foul language.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMltvlqEM54&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
Get it? Foul language? Ha!

Apple’s eye for great design is well known, but sometimes they miss the target. I’ve read quibbles about the size of the Magic Mouse—many say it’s too small, I disagree—but one bit of design is outstanding. The iTunes Store manages to organize many thousands of titles, but has one shortfall that should be an easy fix. Finally, the launch of the iPad was so successful I think it probably surpassed Apple’s expectations.

Magic Mouse

The Magic Mouse handles accepts batteries the way they should have always been installed. Both of the AA batteries are installed in the same direction. I struggle to understand why electronics companies didn’t implement this in everything powered by batteries since we began trying to figure out which way they go in. Great work on this. I hope other companies catch up quickly.

iTunes Store needs tabs

Adding tabs to the iTunes Store would not only benefit users, but it would boost Apple’s sales. When I’m rambling through the store just to see what’s fresh, I get bored before I look at everything I want to see and stop. Tabs would encourage me to shop a little longer.
Take the Staff Favorites section for instance. I may glance at that section and immediately see seven apps that look interesting. To view details I have to click an icon, read about the app, mouse up and click the back button, and find the next one I was interested in. Then, I click that icon, read about the app, mouse up and click the back button, and find the next one I was interested in. I don’t think I have to go through that five more times for you to see how boring this gets.
In Safari, I would hold down the command key, click seven icons, watch them open in tabs, then review each one before closing them when finished. The store is basically a website served within iTunes. How hard could it be to add tabbed browsing to the store?

iPads need user accounts

The iOS is perfect for an iPhone that has one number, one user, one account. It makes sense. The iPad; however, is more prone to getting passed around to multiple users. We have one iPad in the house and it gets passed around a lot. Now, it’s cluttered with long-forgotten free downloads. The biggest challenge is for applications that depend on online accounts. Facebook. RSS readers like Reeder. Email. Those are a problem.
I’m no software engineer, but this design challenge sounds like it’s more difficult. Memory restraints would limit fast user switching for now, but would it be that difficult to add user accounts to the iPad so the device could be more easily shared among family members?

I’ve had an iPhone in my pocket for several years now though I wasn’t an early adopter. I missed out on the first generation, but I’ve carried the 3G, 3GS, and now the iPhone 4. It wasn’t until I got the iPhone 4; however, that I started actually working on my phone.

Early Days: Consumption

The immediate predecessor to my first iPhone was the same most other folks used—a flip phone. In my case, that was a Motorola RAZR (again, like most other people back then). My cell phone was just that, a phone. I had a game or two I installed, but the weren’t very good.
The iPhone came along and changed that for me in an instant. I could surf the Internet and it wasn’t painfully slow. Not only was the speed acceptable (even on the EDGE network before 3G become available and ubiquitous), but web pages looked like they should look. They didn’t force users into a funky mobile version.
Let the surfing begin!
Now, Wikipedia was always at my fingertips. Someone in the room would think aloud, “I wonder what something something” and I would have an answer for them a few seconds later. Smart phones may not actually make you smarter (do they?) but they can make you look smarter anyway.
Email. RSS feeds. High quality games. All right there in snap with a few taps on the touch screen.
But I didn’t use the 3G or even the 3GS for much more than consuming information. Then, I got the fourth iteration of the iPhone.

Accomplishing Something

The responsiveness that accompanied the updated coupled with the quality of display makes the hardware a pleasure to use and the latest software makes it an absolute joy.
Take Elements for example. That’s the app I’m using to write this article. It’s Markdown ready, as easy access to word count, and it’s compatible with TextExpander.
Improved Bluetooth compatibility let’s me connect with my Apple wireless keyboard so I can really pound out some words, but this post was done with the virtual touch screen keyboard.