Muppets Rockin' out to Bohemian Rhapsody

This is freakin' awesome!  Takes me back to my childhood enjoyment of the Muppet Show.

Have a great Monday

Safe Holiday Travels Everyone!!!

Accents - AVIS Commercial

Buddy of mine sent me this one, just a little NY v Bos humor...

It can all end at any time.....

Maybe I'm a bit cryptic, but it seems that mortality shows up on my mind around Thanksgiving.  I remember drinking with friends on Thanksgiving while in High School in memorium of friends and family members that had passed.  Despite these types of memories I have always had a real affinity for  Thanksgiving, in part, because it is Holiday that has not been heavily attacked by the consumerist movement (though the grocery stores are really trying hard!).  A simple concept of gathering around the table with loved ones sharing a meal, its the common human expression that transcends everyone's beliefs and politics, where we put aside the differences and celebrate being together.

For about the last 10 years now, Thanksgiving had been a holiday that also held a lot of traditions.  Often it was a road trip holiday, leaving last minute and driving through the night to reach the lighthouse on Lake Michigan to watch the sunrise, followed by breakfast, napping, and dinner at my parents house.  The evening would be spent with friends from the 'ole home town, running into high school friends and otherwise.  This year, none of these things are happening. I am staying home.  Nikki and I are having a quiet and relaxing day together with a traditional dinner at home.

I am really looking forward to this weekend.  In some ways it is the final step in letting go of my past.  For the first few years out of college I spent a lot of time home, maybe because I was scared, or not happy, or just plain not wanting to let go of the past good times of high school and college.  Over the last few years, however, I have begun to let go of those times and let them define my early chapters of life and not the whole book.  During these years I made some difficult decisions, made some exciting discoveries, and have entered my third decade of life on a real path of "adulthood" and responsibility.  I am happy with who I am and with my life.  I am in a fantastic relationship with the woman I intend to spend the rest of my life with and marry, I have a great job that is challenging and has the potential for a great career path ahead of me.  That's not to say I don't have a lot of goals and lists of accomplishments to gain; there is always going to be a lot of work ahead.

But this Thanksgiving I am going to reflect on what I am really thankful for, and let those things be the inspiration for where to better direct my energies in the coming years.

So how is death on my mind?  Well I learned this week that a friend from High School has passed this week unexpectedly, and that Dad's health is deteriorating pretty badly (Mom thinks his time here is not going to be long).  Whether or not we know when the end is coming, we do know that it is still coming.  How we spend that time is the question we need to face.  But rather than focus on what we don't have, why not take a focus on what we do have, no matter how little that may be, and how to build off of those things.  Placing a greater value on enriching the lives around us will give us a greater sense of purpose and direction.  In turn, we will end up having so much more to be thankful for.  We need to do the same with ourselves.  Instead of focusing on what we don't have, let's build off our strengths first, and from there identify how we can improve.  Positives in our lives, no matter how small, will always have the ability to spark action and change.  Negatives always slow us, and limit us.

So this Thanksgiving I am going to reflect on what I am really thankful for, and let those things be the inspiration for where to better direct my energies in the coming years.

Test Blog

Good afternoon, strike that, evening.

This is a test post via the blackberry. I have finding that I have time to write in odd segments of time, especially when I am travelling. This should also occupy me time during those lulls when you feel compelled to use the blackberry. You see it all the time at the airport. Like when you're on the shuttle to the rental car and you see all the old timers in suits trying to read their emails (that require no action!). Eventually you will see someone pull out their regular cell phone and paging through thinking they have something to do or say. Too much of a ramble I suppose, but let's hope this worked or else I have typed a bit for nothing!

Now that I have this figured out a bit better, I look forward to really getting this blog thing going!

EV to Appear on History Channel

Fine reporting from Two Feet Thick:

The Boston Herald reports that Howard Zinn’s film “The People Speak” will air on U.S. cable TV channel The History Channel. Why do we care? Well first, Howard Zinn is a brilliant human…but the Pearl Jam connection is our man Ed Vedder who performed a musical number or three during the filmed performance. Fabulous actor David Straithairn (insert dreamy sigh from Kath here) is on a mini-college tour with Howard Zinn to screen the film, and here is the Boston Herald article:

“Good Night and Good Luck” star David Strathairn, (Boston University professor) Howard Zinn and Hollywood producer Chris Moore kicked off a college tour for their star-studded documentary “The People Speak” at Boston University last night.Executive produced by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Anthony Arnove, Moore and Zinn, the film features dramatic readings by a galaxy of Hollywood stars and a lefty look at the history of this country.

“I like to be involved in material that means something to me and my time,” Strathairn said. “And this is a project that means a lot to a long period of time and gives a voice to those who you wouldn’t necessarily hear.”

Strathairn, Damon, Brolin, Viggo Mortensen, Kerry Washington, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Jasmine Guy, Michael Ely and more came to Boston in 2008 to film the documentary, based on Zinn’s acclaimed “A People’s History of the United States.” Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and John Legend contributed musical performances. The flick will air Dec. 13 on the History Channel .

The History Channel People Speak site can be found here, and here is the direct link to the channel’s ad about it (Ed has a line or two!).

Moore said he had been attempting to make a flick from “A People’s History” since getting Zinn’s book from his pals Damon and Ben Affleck back in 1997.

Strathairn said he doesn’t believe the documentary will cement the impression that Tinseltown is lousy with left-wingers.

“In my opinion, Hollywood embraces the commercial side which this isn’t,” he said. “It’s completely the opposite.”

14 Simple Tips for Super Fast Web Browsing

This came over from Zen Habits, some good simple "no Brainers"

1. Use a fast, minimal browser. First, if you’re using Internet Explorer and you don’t absolutely have to, please do yourself a favor and switch right now. It’s bloated and slow, insecure, and doesn’t render the web correctly. If you can’t switch, please start educating your IT or HR department about modern, standards-compliant browsers. Second, I’ve long been a fan of Firefox because it’s generally awesome and extensible, but lately I’ve switched to faster and lighter browsers that do what I need with a minimum of bloat. So on the Mac, that’s been Opera and lately Camino. Both are great and do what I need. On the PC, there’s no contest — it’s Google Chrome, as it’s the fastest I’ve tried.


2. Use tabs, not windows. This should be obvious but many people still open a new window each time they’re going to a new site (including my mom). Instead, configure your browser to open new tabs instead of windows. When you are reading a post, for example, and want to open a link in a new window, Command-click (on a Mac) or middle-click (on a PC) should open the link in a new tab. Now you can switch between tabs without needing to find where each window went.


3. Learn keyboard shortcuts. Again, this is obvious to most web monkeys, but it’s so much faster that you need to take the time to learn the shortcuts. Some common examples (using Mac shortcuts): Cmd-T to open a new tab, Cmd-L to go to the browser’s location bar (to enter an url), Cmd-D or Cmd-K (depending on the browser) to bookmark, Cmd-K (on some browsers) to go to the search engine box (the Google box), Cmd-W to close a window or tab, and so on. Each browser and OS have different shortcuts, but you can easily learn them by looking at the shortcuts in the menus of the browser. It just takes a few minutes to learn them, and then you’re golden.


4. Set up keyword bookmarks and speed dial. Most browsers have keyword bookmarks, and it takes just a few seconds to set up each one. Basically, for all of your common sites, you’ll want to create a bookmark, and then go to the bookmark and enter a keyword for quick access to that bookmark. To do this, go the the Properties of the bookmark and set the keyword. I recommend short keywords — common ones for me include “gm” for Gmail, “rd” for Google Reader, “cal” for Google Calendar, “bog” for my bank website, “tw” for Twitter, “st” for my blog’s stats, “post” to create a new Zen Habits post, and so on. Speed Dial is an Opera feature that other browsers seem to be copying — you set up your 9 most oft-used websites into Speed Dial, and then can go to any of them with the press of a key (i.e. Cmd-1 for Gmail, Cmd-2 for Twitter, etc.).


5. Set up keyword searches. Same as above, but these are saved searches you might perform commonly besides a regular Google web search. Examples might include Amazon, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, IMDB, Ebay, and Flickr searches. For each saved search, you’ll have a keyword, and then you can just search from the location bar (Cmd-L to get there) — for example, “im alyssa milano” will search IMDB.com for Alyssa Milano (once you set it up of course).


6. Set up keyword bookmarklets. In Firefox and a couple other browsers, there’s the ability to create javascript bookmarklets that have some kind of functionality — for example, a bookmarklet for Tumblr (to create a new post from the page you’re reading) or Instapaper (to bookmark an article for reading later) or Twitter (to tweet a page) or is.gd (to create a short url for a page), and so on (some good examples). Other browsers (Opera is an example) don’t allow you to drag and drop a bookmarklet into the bookmarks toolbar, but you can still create them: 1) create a regular bookmark , 2) copy the link url of the bookmarklet using Control-click or right-click, 3) paste this url into the regular bookmark in your bookmark manager (Cmd-B in Camino), and then create a keyword for this bookmark. Now, if I want to create a short url for a page, I go to the page, press Cmd-L (to go to the location bar) and type “is” and press enter — and instantly have a short url. This works for any javascript bookmarklet.


7. Fast online bookmarking. Beyond creating keyword bookmarks for common sites, searches and bookmarklets, I like to bookmark resources and pages to be read later using online tools. In the past I used Delicious (for bookmarking resources) and Instapaper (for reading something later), but these days I use Pinboard (by the writer of the excellent blog, Idle Words). It’s in beta, but it’s fast, and has both bookmarking and to-read features. Using a service like this allows me to access my bookmarks from any computer.


8. Block Flash. Adobe’s Flash format is everywhere on the web these days — popular sites like YouTube depend on it for video, and you’ll find it in ads everywhere, and some entire sites are built on Flash. It’s annoying, frankly. Flash is slow, and I prefer to turn it off by default … but have the option to turn it on if I want to watch a YouTube video or something. In Camino, it’s simple — just turn it off in the preferences. In other browsers, you might need a plugin or extension to turn off Flash but give yourself the ability to turn on Flash elements with a click.


9. Distraction-free reading and videos. I love reading without the distraction and clutter of most sites. So I use two bookmarklets: Readability for reading articles, and Quietube for viewing videos.


10. Turn off most extensions. Firefox is great for all its amazing extensions, but if you use a lot of them they can cause the browser to get slow and bloated, and often buggy. So when I do use Firefox I turn off almost all extensions (except Google Gears for offline access), and on Camino I use none. It makes for much faster browsing.


11. Don’t have a million tabs open. This is a common web-surfing mode for a lot of people, but it slows down the browser. I tend to open lots of tabs at times, but when things get too cluttered I bookmark them for later reading (using Pinboard) and then close the tabs, so I have only two or three open at any time.


12. Clear most of your toolbars. I like minimal toolbars, so I turn most of them off on the browser and remove most buttons, so the content is all there is.


13. 1password or KeePass. Good tools for easily storing all your passwords — otherwise, you’ll either have to remember them all or use the same ones over and over (not very secure).


14. Tuning out the Internet. When I need to do serious work, I try to remove distractions by closing the browser to do actual work. If I find myself opening the browser too much, I’ll use a utility (such as Freedom) to shut off the Internet altogether.

Cold water works just fine

From Lifehacker:

You might think that washing your hands under hot water kills more germs. However, cold water works just as well at removing contamination, and saves your hands some stress.

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advocated for using 'hot water comfortable enough for washing hands,' as it purportedly removes oils from your hand skin that might harbor bacteria. But in 2005, a published study found that:

... In studies in which subjects had their hands contaminated, and then were instructed to wash and rinse with soap for 25 seconds using water with temperatures ranging from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to 120 degrees, the various temperatures had 'no effect on transient or resident bacterial reduction.'

Taking the time to thoroughly work soap into your hands and properly rinse them off are just as important with any temperature water. Still, if you've got a home with hot water that takes its time making it into your sink, consider saving yourself the time and water heater expenditure and wash with whatever feels good on your hands.

The Claim: Always Wash Your Hands With Hot Water, Not Cold [NYTimes.com]

Lunch skins reduce waste and save lunch

Lunch Skins. They’re reusable sandwich and snack bags:

The bags are dishwasher safe, food safe, and resistant to grease and moisture (no need to worry about your jelly leaking out of the bag). Plus, they come in many fun patterns. Lunch Skins aren’t great for long-term storage of foods in the freezer, but they are are perfect for lunchboxes and snacks when you’re on the go. Reducing your waste when you can is greener than doing nothing at all.

Not that I actually ever pack a lunch, but I thought this is a pretty smooth idea.

Ahhh..... Love that new Pearl Jam smell!!!

I got home at 4:00am from dropping Nikki off at work, with a nice surprise in my inbox . A little myspace blog about "The Fixer" being available! I've now had in on repeat for 45 minutes and am not even close to getting sick of it!. It's got a nice bass line that pulls you in, great lyrics and a nice flow. This will get a lot of airplay, I will be rocking out quite a bit to this one.
I'm already hearing the crowd chants in Toronto, Chicago, and Philly to it, hopefully with a nice extended jam.

Less than two weeks until the new tour, and only a month until we start rockin' out to the PJ again. I'm officially in O.C. pre-tour, pre-album mode. Avacado was in constant rotation for nearly 2 months straight before I bothered to listen to anything else. I'm getting the feeling that a similar (or worse) situation is at hand. Full on PJ addiction.

How does Conan get the hair to stay perfect???

Eddie is short, Conan is tall, and together its kinda funny!!!!

BACKSPACER

I am really looking forward to this album, Pearl Jam has always been ahead of the curve, musically, and politically. The mini pre-album tour should be great and the post album tour will likely be epic!!!

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Pearl Jam RiTFW on Conan

Seeing Eddie tomorrow night in Albany, and next week in Baltimore. Then PJ in Toronto and 2 nights in Chicago this summer, followed by the new album in September, should be an excellent summer!!!

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