Project Paradox

For the most part, I find children’s programming to be insufferable. Watch a few episodes of Barney or Dora the Explorer and you’ll understand what I mean. The mindlessly repetitive music, while no doubt entertaining for my three-year-old son, grates on my sanity.

There are exceptions, though. My son’s very fond of Curious George, for example, and I was surprised to discover that the music for the movie was actually quite enjoyable. It’s hardly mainstream, but I found the opening song, Upside Down by Jack Johnson, to be a pleasant departure from the standard intolerability of children’s music. Now, if only kids’ shows would follow the same, “Make it bearable for adults, too,” approach…

Upside Down by Jack Johnson

Who’s to say
What’s impossible
Well they forgot
This world keeps spinning
And with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks reflections fade
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There’s no stopping curiosity

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone
We’ll sing and dance to Mother Nature’s songs
I don’t want this feeling to go away

Who’s to say
I can’t do everything
Well I can try
And as I roll along I begin to find
Things aren’t always just what they seem

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone
We’ll sing and dance to Mother Nature’s songs
This world keeps spinning and there’s no time to waste
Well it all keeps spinning spinning round and round and

Upside down
Who’s to say what’s impossible and can’t be found
I don’t want this feeling to go away

Please don’t go away
Please don’t go away
Please don’t go away
Is this how it’s supposed to be
Is this how it’s supposed to be

If you work on the web, chances are good that you have a blog or personal website, that it’s been around for awhile, and that it hasn’t done much for your career. A recent survey of nearly 33,000 web professionals over at A List Apart (via Daniel) yielded these interesting statistics:

• Overall, almost three out of four (72.7%) web professionals reported having a blog.
• Almost half (49.6%) have had a blog for three years or more.
• Surprisingly, the number of web professionals with blogs showed little or no variation between different genders and salary ranges.
• Web professionals younger than 40 were slightly more likely to blog than those over 40.
• Web professionals in creative fields (e.g., writing and design) were slightly more likely to blog than those in technical fields (e.g., development and project management).

Perhaps the most interesting finding was the lack of difference in blogging between web professionals of different salaries. This implies that a personal blog or website is not necessary for professional success, and may in fact do little to help advance your career. Of course, this flies in the face of what most of us web pros hope our blogs might accomplish. Considering the lack of causality, I’d say further research is needed to determine whether or not blogging is a useful career advancement strategy.

If every year of my life had an ostentatious title, this year would have been the “Year of Personal Finance.” I’ve always had a good head for math, so you’d have thought that I’d already know tons about finance. It wasn’t until just a few months ago, though, that I started really learning my stuff. Thanks to that self-instruction, my wife and I have taken seven steps, big and small, toward improving our finances.

• We saved up an emergency fund. Our goal back in July was to have three months worth of expenses saved up by the end of the year. I’m proud to say that we’ve met that goal and then some. Now, even in the unlikely event that both of us got fired, my blogging income dried up, and we couldn’t draw unemployment, we’d still have a full three months before things got tight.
   
• We cut our expenses. Most notably, we cancelled our home phone service and negotiated a lower rate on our cable/internet bill. Considering how we use our cell phones almost exclusively anyway, we didn’t miss the service at all, and the net reduction ended saving us about $50 a month.
   
• We started saving for retirement. To be truthful, my fascination with personal finance started taking off when I opened my first retirement account this year. I’m already contributing 5%, and I plan to start contributing up to my employer’s match next year after our emergency fund is fully established.
   
• We started tracking our budget. If you’d asked me a year ago what we spend on gas in a week, I’d have shrugged. Now I can tell you down to the penny with little more than a moment’s notice. Knowledge like that really is worth the effort, because it lets you know exactly where your money is going.
   
• We set financial goals for the next few years. Now that the emergency fund is established, our next step is paying off my student loans by May 2008, followed by our car by February 2009, at which point we’ll be debt free. In the long term, we dream of buying a home, having another baby (or two), paying our son’s way through college, and maybe going back to school and getting my Master’s degree.
   
• We started tracking our credit. I monitor our credit score on a monthly basis now and check one of our three credit reports every four months for changes. More importantly, thanks to a little credit know-how, I know exactly when we should be ready to take on a mortgage.
   
• We’re moving into a new apartment. The rent will be considerably cheaper and we’ll be much closer to my work. We’re still in the process of picking an apartment, but we’re doing things smarter this time around. We’re starting early, we know exactly what we want, we’re doing thorough comparisons, and we’re not going to be afraid to haggle.

Thanks to these steps, my wife and I now have a positive net worth and are looking forward to a bright, financially secure future. Heck, I’m even considering the prospect of early retirement. The whole experience of taking control of our finances has been incredibly liberating.

On that note, I’d like to thank JD of Get Rich Slowly, Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to be Rich, Jonathan of My Money Blog, Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar, and all the bloggers out there like them, without whose advice our success wouldn’t have been possible.

Let it never be said that the software engineers over at Google don’t have a sense of humor. Just the other day, I was curious how far my friend Daniel Scocco over at Daily Blog Tips would have to travel if he wanted to attend BlogWorld Expo next week. For those who don’t know, Daniel lives in Brazil, and Blog World is being held in Las Vegas, NV. I plugged these locations into Google Maps for directions and here’s what I got.

Anyone else notice something funny here. If you didn’t catch it, check out direction #42. It reads, “Swim across the Atlantic Ocean – 9,207 km.” Naturally, because of the Panama Canal, I should have assumed Google Maps wouldn’t be able to find a driving route. Still, I didn’t think Google’s solution would be for Daniel to swim more than 9,000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean!

I’ve played Thalenir, my blood elf paladin, for about a month. He got into his early 30’s and enjoyed a variety of play styles, including soloing, grouping, and instances. On several occasions, I even had the opportunity to tank instances with him, which was a blast. Unfortunately, I’ve come to recognize a harsh reality that I just have to get off my chest.

Paladins suck. Yes, I said it, and I’ll say it again. Pallies suck. They are the very definition of a jack-of-all-trades, able to do many things but none of them well. They can do adequate DPS with a retribution spec, they can be respectable healers with a holy spec, and they can be decent tanks (or better-than-average off-tanks) with a protection spec. Without a solid talent spec and gear to match, their performance in every regard is sub par, and they can’t do any of these jobs as well as a specialty class that’s specced for it.

I can hear the objections now. “That’s the whole point of playing a paladin.” Perhaps, but the game has two other multi-purpose classes: The druid and the shaman. I’ve played both of them, and the fact is that both are better at the jobs they can fill than a paladin can ever be. Druids, for example, are right up there with warriors as the end-game tanks of choice. Shamans, likewise, can dish out melee DPS on par with a rogue. Even as party healers, arguably the one area that paladins should out-perform them, druids and shamans are just as viable.

I know it’s been said many times, but I think it’s worth saying again. Paladins need to be fixed. Give them some better healing abilities to make them really shine in one discipline over druids and shamans. Give them a reliable way of generating threat en masse and becoming uncrushable so they can be end-game tanks rather than off-tanks. Heck, give them some freakin’ DPS so they don’t have to die repeatedly while soloing. Any improvement would be great, because right now there’s no real reason to play them except for character reasons.

Alright, I’ve said my peace. Hopefully I haven’t offended the paladin-lovers out there. If you feel affronted by my comments, please realize that I gave the class a chance to prove itself, despite my brother’s objections (which were always valid, seeing as he has a 70 dwarf pally). Remember, it’s still possible to love a class while recognizing its numerous and glaring shortcomings. Personally, I’ll be trading in my paladin for a tauren druid.

I’ll come right out and say it; I don’t like Kanye West. I couldn’t stand Gold Digger. I thought the whole “George Bush hates black people” stunt was ridiculous. And while I’m not religious, I found the comparison between himself and Jesus Christ to be more than a little arrogant.

Nevertheless, I do like Stronger. It’s got a vibe that makes it great for working out. That’s not to say I’m expecting much else out of Kanye, but at least he made one halfway decent song.

Kanye West – Stronger

Work it harder make it better,
do it faster makes us stronger,
more than ever, hour after
hour work is never over

Th-th-that that don’t kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can’t wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can’t get much wronger
Man I been waitin’ all night now
That’s how long I’ve been on ya

I need ya right now
I need ya right now

Let’s get lost tonight
You could be my black Kate Moss tonight
Play secretary, I’m the boss tonight.
And you don’t give a f**k what they all say, right?
Awesome, the Christian in Christian Dior
Damn they don’t make ‘em like this anymore
I ask, cause I’m not sure
Do anybody make real shit anymore?
Bow in the presence of greatness
Cause right now thou has forsaken us
You should be honored by my lateness
That I would even show up to this fake shit
So go ahead go nuts, go ape shit
Especially in my pastel, all my bape shit
Act like you can’t tell who made this
New gospel homey take six, and take this, haters

N-n-now th-that that don’t kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can’t wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can’t get much wronger
Man I been waitin’ all night now
That’s how long I’ve been on ya

I need ya right now
I need ya right now

I don’t know if you got a man or not
If you made plans or not

If God put me in your plans or not
I’m trippin’, this drink got me sayin’ alot
But I know that God put you in front of me
So how the hell could you front on me
There’s a thousand yous
And only one of me
I’m trippin’, I’m caught up in the moment right?
‘Cause it’s Louis Vuitton Don night
So we goin’ do everything that Kan like
Heard they’d do anything for a Klondike
Well I’d do anything for a blonde dyke
And she’ll do anything for the limelight
And we’ll do anything when the time’s right
Uh, baby you’re makin’ it
Harder, better, faster, stronger

Th-that that don’t kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can’t wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can’t get much wronger
Man I been waitin’ all night now
That’s how long I’ve been on ya

I need ya right now
I need ya right now

You know how long I’ve been on ya?
Since prince was on Apollonia
Since OJ had Isotoners
Don’t act like I never told ya
Uh, baby you’re makin’ it

Harder, better, faster, stronger

N-n-now th-that that don’t kill me
Can only make me stronger
I need you to hurry up now
Cause I can’t wait much longer
I know I got to be right now
Cause I can’t get much wronger
Man I been waitin’ all night now
That’s how long I’ve been on ya

I need ya right now
I need ya right now
I need ya right now
I need ya right now

We’ve been in hiring mode at work, lately, looking for CSS developers, content managers, and so forth. Interestingly enough, the same problem keeps cropping up with almost every resume, one that makes the difference between the call list and the circular filing bin next to my desk.

No matter what profession you’re in, a resume accomplishes the same thing: It says what you can do. That’s it. From a hiring perspective, however, that really isn’t enough. You can say what you’re capable of, but a potential employer will never know until they’ve seen it for themselves.

You have to show them what you can do. If you’re applying to be a copywriter, include some samples of your writing. If you’re applying for a developer position, attach samples of your code. If you’re interested in design work, show me your portfolio.

This tip actually comes from my experience on both sides of the fence. I never got so many compliments from interviewers and employers as I did when I started including six pages of code with my resume. In retrospect, that simple action played a major role in landing me my last two jobs. If only the applications we received had something to that effect, it would make choosing candidates infinitely simpler.

Just put yourself in the shoes of Human Resources and you’ll understand why. Resumes can be fraudulent. People often joke about “creative exaggerations” and outright lies on resumes. As they say, talk is cheap. On the other hand, a solid example of your work is much easier to trust.

So remember, when you’re a web professional looking for work, don’t just tell potential employers that you’re the right person for the job; prove it by showing them what you can do.

Like most families, mine has long used the “hint passing” method of knowing what to buy each other for Christmas. You know how it works; one of us will casually hint to another how we would like something and that information will work its way around the rest of the family until someone decides to make the purchase.

Obviously, this is a very inefficient system. News of a good gift idea may not spread past the first person it reaches, leaving us scratching our heads about what to get each other. Add to this the fact that several members of our family are chronically difficult to buy for (I’m looking at you, Dad) and it’s anyone’s guess what to buy. Gift cards, anyone?

Making on Online Family Christmas List

To combat this problem, I came up with a modern, web 2.0 solution using Google Docs. To those who’ve never used it, think of it as an online version of Microsoft Word. You can create and edit a document directly in your browser, then share this document with others and give them permission to edit it, too.

Here’s how to start your own online family Christmas list.

1. Go over to Google Docs. If you don’t have an account, you’ll have to create one. Don’t worry; it’s quick, easy, and completely free.
    
2. Create a new document and name it “{Last Name} Family Christmas List {Year}”, substituting your family’s last name and the year as appropriate. Mine, for example, is named “Ward Family Christmas List 2007″.
    
3. Write the rules at the top so everyone knows how to use it (see below). Then write every family member’s name on its own line.
    
4. Go to the “Share” tab. Click the “As collaborators” radio button and write every family member’s name in the box. Then click “Invite collaborators.” Everyone on the list will receive an email inviting them to view and edit the document.

How the Online Family Christmas List Works

The rules couldn’t be much simpler. Be sure to copy and paste them into your Christmas list so everyone knows what to do.

Rule #1. If you’d like something for Christmas, add it to the list under your name. Give as little or as much detail as you like.

Rule #2. If you have a good idea for a gift for someone else, add it under his or her name.

Rule #3. If you buy an item for someone else, highlight, strike through it, or otherwise mark it as bought so they don’t get it twice.

That’s it. The only real drawback is the slight reduction in surprise factor, but you’re always free to buy something not on the list, and keeping it from the children’s eyes is pretty easy. The important thing is that everyone can communicate exactly what they want to everyone else without relying on hint passing.

What are you waiting for? The sooner you start your own online family Christmas list, the sooner you can stop guessing about what to buy them!

P.S. Obviously, this method works great for any gift-giving holiday. Feel free to use it for birthdays, Hannukah, or whatever else you find useful.

Last year, Wired magazine ran a feature of six word stories written by various celebrities. Naturally, I didn’t hear about it until a friend mentioned it the other day (don’t tell anyone; I might lose Geek Points). Like a haiku, there’s real artistry in being able to say so much in so few words, and some of them are downright hilarious. Here are my favorite six word stories:

Best Six Word Stories

Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?
- Eileen Gunn

Automobile warranty expires. So does engine.
- Stan Lee

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore

It’s behind you! Hurry before it
- Rockne S. O’Bannon

Epitaph: He shouldn’t have fed it.
- Brian Herbert

Bush told the truth. Hell froze.
- William Gibson

God to Earth: “Cry more, noobs!”
- Marc Laidlaw

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
- David Brin

Deadline postponed. Five words enough…?
- David Brin

I saw, darling, but do lie.
- Orson Scott Card

Mozilla devastates Redmond, Google’s nuke implicated.
- Charles Stross

I win lottery. Sun goes nova.
- Steven Meretzky

Steve ignores editor’s word limit and
- Steven Meretzky

I mentioned how I got a new computer a few weeks ago. Before it arrived, my wife and I were already talking about playing Warcraft side-by-side, one of us on the new computer and the other on the old one. We decided it would be better to wait until we moved later this year to get everything set up that way. Within a few days, though, we had given into our urges, networked the computers, and gotten a second Warcraft account.

The result has been very enjoyable. We started a blood elf paladin and hunter duo that work very well together. Thus far, I’ve noticed several real advantages to playing together compared to standard, one-computer play.

1. No friction over a shared computer. We used to quibble over time on the computer when we first got WoW about two years ago, eventually growing out of it as our play time throttled back to more reasonable levels. If it were still an issue, though, playing at the same time would make it a moot point.
    
2. Great communication. Forget chat or even TeamSpeak; when the person you’re playing with is right next to you, group communication is as good as it gets. I can instantly alert her to adds, coordinate abilities, and even know when she’s lagging or disconnected.
    
3. Digital romance. A lot of infrequently-used emotes (e.g., /kiss, /hug, /love, etc.) have become commonplace since we started playing together. It’s no substitute for true romance, of course, but it’s a fun way to reinforce an existing romance.
    
4. No conflicting schedules. Ever party with someone who had to log off at an inconvenient moment to go deal with real life necessities like eating, sleeping, or working? Well, when you do those things at the same time as the person you’re playing with, there tend to be very few scheduling difficulties.
    
5. Group quests are a cinch. We’ve been able to handle all two- and most three-person quests together without ever having to find additional party members. Even when a larger group is required, we have the confidence of knowing that at least one other person in the party is halfway competent. It’s also nice to vent to one another about bad party members that we share in common.
    
6. Coordinated skills. Since we party together so frequently, we’ve built up our characters to complement each other. I make her sharpening stones and give her meat. She makes me armor kits and food. If leather drops, it’s hers. If mail drops, it’s mine. By planning our skills ahead of time, our characters synergize very nicely.
    
7. Harmony. It’s a real treat to have a regular questing partner that you can always get along with. It’s a minor thing, but, when you don’t have to butt heads with your companion, you come away from playing the game with a greater sense of satisfaction.

Naturally, your experience may very. My wife and I are both WoW geeks, and we have a very healthy marriage, which isn’t necessarily typical. With the added overhead a second computer and account, it’s definitely not for everyone. For those who have the means and opportunity, however, I highly recommend giving it a try.