On the Cusp of a Real Breakthrough

More attentive fans will notice that I have not yet gotten around to “fixing the place up,” adding various links and features that any self-respecting modern blog ought to have. Somehow, “sit down and work on blog template” never seems to crawl to the top of my to-do list. Whether that’s poor planning, or excellent prioritization, I’m not sure.

I have, however, just jumped through a few hoops to implement a new feature. In the process I got to learn some more about WordPress (the software that powers this blog), the worth-a-Cool-Stuff-post-of-its-own-someday Mac-based program TextWrangler, and the awesome something that is the joint FeedBurner/FeedBlitz operation. Needless to say, if I were half my age, I would have absorbed all this knowledge from the ether, but as I am an aged husk merely passing as a techno-saavy hipster, I am waaay behind the front of the wave. I think I understood what I did, but the full extent of it remains to be seen.

That said, it should now be possible, for those that want to, to subscribe to this blog via e-mail. Enter your preferred email address in the box on the lower right side of the main page, and you’ll be transferred to FeedBlitz, a service that can scan blogs for new posts, and send them as email. When you respond to their confirmation message, you should be all set.

I have some concern about those confirmation messages getting rejected as spam, so if you try to use this service and have a problem, let me know. Thanks.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been mucking about with my RSS feed, so, if you are using it, and it still works, that’d be good to know. Post a comment. I’ve set up a feed through FeedBurner, at this link, should you care to use it. I don’t promise it works properly yet.

In the fullness of time I will decorate the page with helpful little buttons and so forth, but given how long it’s taken me to get this far, I advise against holding your breath. There are a few things ahead of it on the list…

One of the most effective propaganda campaigns in history is the one that has convinced Americans that it rains all the time in Seattle. The truth is that it really doesn’t. There is hardly any rain in the summer, and even at this time of year there are usually waves of storms with clearing between. And there are many days where there is some precipitation, but it happens in the wee hours of the morning, so it only counts statistically, not practically.

Except lately. Today we tied the record for the second-longest unbroken string of rain days at 25. In a week, we stand to break the record for first, set in 1953. And these have been real rain days, with long hours of real rainfall, not the drizzle we often get. Even locals are starting to complain.

This afternoon, all we had to deal with was your basic hour-upon-hour of rain. The other day, I went out around 4:15p, and it was really eerie. The rain had let up in my immediate area, but there were still low clouds. But, past breaks in the low clouds, you could look up and see … more clouds. The afternoon sunlight, once filtered through these double diffusion layers, was dim and strangely non-directional. The city street felt like it was indoors. Except that indoors is usually brighter.

I’m happy that I moved my lightbox down so that I can stare at it while I’m on the treadmill. Getting light while exercising feels really good, though it feels strange when it’s brighter inside than out in the middle of the day. I did manage to get outside for my walk yesterday during a lull in the rain. Kimberly had reminded me that she’d once bought me some fleece neck warmers, which I pulled out of the drawer, so now I can walk outside and still be able to talk. I do, however, look like Bazooka Joe’s pal Mort in a hat.

There are a variety of tasks in my life that I want to keep track of, to make sure I’m doing them on a regular basis. The trick is that by “regular”, I mean on a repeated cycle, but not rigidly. I want a reminder to clean the cats’ litterbox, say, but I can clean it any time on a range of days, like 2 OR 3 days since I last cleaned it, and it’s still fine. In fact, it’s this quality of needing to do it repeatedly, but not on a firmly fixed schedule that makes me want to have a tool for keeping track; “every Tuesday” or “every day” is easy, but every few days, weeks or months? Too easy to lose track and forget.

My computer would be a good place to keep track, but there’s a problem. This sort of task doesn’t fit nicely onto my computer calendar, because I don’t want to do the task every n days precisely. Every n±x days would be fine. And, once I go off the strict rotation of ‘every n days’, I have to jump through hoops to adjust my calendar’s schedule for the new interval. Too annoying.

Which is why I’m was happy to find a program called Consistency. It’s a simple little program designed for tracking just this sort of activity. You can set up tasks with a range of ‘target days’, so that, for example, a task can be due no sooner than 3 and no later than 5 days. The program’s display is a simple grid, with columns for every day and rows for each task. On a day when the task isn’t due, a blue box appears on its line. On a day in its target range, you see a green box. On the last day before it’s overdue, there is a yellow ‘warning’ box, and then every day after a red box, until you do the task.

By scanning down the column for today, I can see which of my tasks are ‘up’ for action. When I’ve accomplished one of the tasks, I click its box, and the program marks it with a dot, and resets it for the next cycle. The program automatically advances and highlights today’s column, but it also displays the last two weeks, which provides a graphic display of how well I’m doing in keeping up with my targets. (Hmm, that long red bar there suggests I might want to reassess my level of commitment to that particular task…)

Here’s an illustration from the website to help make it clear:

There is both a Mac and a Windows version, and you can download it and use it free with some limitations. You can try it, and then, if you like it enough to pay $25, you get a key that will convert it to the unlimited version.

OK, time for me to go click on my “Write blog post” box!

For a long time, I’ve wanted to have a web page or some other way to share my enjoyment of various products I’ve found that I really like. This may be a holdover from my days as a fan and later employee of the Whole Earth Catalog. Former co-worker Kevin Kelly suffers from the same affliction, to the extent that he maintains an entire blog just for that purpose, and solicits contributions from others. It’s a favorite distraction of mine.

As opposed to the Whole Earth Catalog, or Kevin’s site, I’m not going to apply criteria of usefulness or superiority to the products I write about. While it is true that I am a man of discrimination and taste, these are just things that I like enough to want to tell someone about. Your mileage may vary. And I’m not going to devote a blog to the stuff, merely the occassional blog-post.

Today, a few items to get things rolling.

Targus Notebook Portable LapDesk™

One of my favorite items, which probably deserves its own post, is my Apple iBook G4. The one drawback of this lovely, light, notebook-like computer is that its bottom gets very hot in use. Lap-burning hot, in fact. The solution I found to this problem turns out to be a real enhancement. It provides the necessary ventilation under the iBook, but it does more. Unfolded, it provides a wide, stiff surface to hold the computer when I’m sitting cross-legged. Were I a mouse-user, there’d be space to move the mouse. But I use it mostly in its folded configurations. It’s cleverly designed to also serve as an adjustable tilt-stand, and still be wide enough to hold the iBook and fit my lap. There’s an advantage to being able to tilt my keyboard while I’m working. I sometimes use the LapDesk at my desk, or at cafe tables for the ergonomic value. The LapDesk is light, stiff, and compact, so that if fits nicely into my laptop bag, providing an extra layer of protection for the iBook in travel. Very nice.

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I’m hardly so dapper or hip as to fit the term “metrosexual”, but I have managed to stumble across some shave and skin care potions that are much, much better than what’s available at the local drug store.

California North Skin Care Products

Part of my affection for these particular products comes from the fact that they come from Sausalito, CA, and their office is just a couple blocks from my old Whole Earth haunts. Their Razor Shavecream is perhaps the best thing for shaving ever. It’s slippery, non-foaming stuff that has a very light citrus scent. It’s not soapy, or gummy, it has nifty skin-moisturizing ingredients, and best of all, razor blades slide extremely smoothly across your skin, with no irritation. It’s definitely worth the price. It puts traditional cans of foam, mugs of shaving soap, and even newer offerings from Gillette and Nivea to shame.

Now, as viewers of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy know, it’s important to follow your shave with a good moisturizer. Especially for those of us over 40. The California North Action Moisturizer is absolutely the best. It smells good but not strongly, unlike those girly moisturizers available all over. It’s light and absorbs well, so it doesn’t feel like wiping some sticky synthetic coating onto your face. It has a built-in SPF of 4, and beta-hydroxy acids, which the skin-care industry would have me believe are quasi-magical. Since I’ve been using it, my skin looks better, no doubt about it. After I started using it, my wife gave it a try, and she really likes it too. I now buy the gigantic pump bottle. The special added feature, for those men still a bit uncomfortable with the idea of moisturizers: it’s used by mountain climbers and triatheletes. Instead of feeling vaguely wimpy using it, you can imagine you’re preparing to start up El Capitan. After all, it’s an Action(!) Moisturizer.

Origins Fire Fighter®

While you’re using up the last of your current shave product, and are left suffering the irritation and burning that so many think is an integral part of shaving, you may want to try this product from the Origins company, who specialize in herbal potions. It’s a light gel with cooling herbal ingredients that quickly soothe the skin. It really makes your skin feel better immediately. I like its light, fresh scent, which is why I keep some around for occassional use, even after discovering California North.