Posted on

32 Doublings

If you live a long full life and we consider 1 second the base time interval of that life. You’ll double your life 32 times. The amazing part is 26 of those happen by the time you’re 1yr old.

Why do I care – is it significant?

No idea. However, my theory is that perceived time speeds up because of the lack of learning new things + the way that time doubles. For instance, the first time you drive somewhere can feel like forever but the 2nd time feels much faster. There are new sites, sounds, and traffic patterns. Can you extend your perceived life by learning new things? If you’re a radio listener then you need to seek new stations.

Maybe doublings are the wrong frame for this. Half-life may be an interesting approach https://mathinsight.org/doubling_time_half_life_discrete

To be continued…after I continue to pontificate and wonder if this matters at all.

Music that I can re-listen to over and over again: DeVotchka – All the Sand in All the Sea

But what does AI think about this concept?

Prompt:
Act as a writer for https://www.ant.cat. Write a blog post about how one perception of time is impacted by the rate at which their time alive is doubles.

Response from ChatGPT:
Time is a fascinating concept that has perplexed scientists, philosophers, and individuals alike for centuries. It is a fleeting and elusive concept that is ever-changing, with different perceptions and interpretations across cultures and individuals. One such perception of time is the impact of the rate at which our time alive is doubled, and how it affects our perception of time.

The concept of time dilation is one that has been extensively studied in physics and cosmology. According to this theory, time passes differently for objects moving at different speeds or in different gravitational fields. However, time dilation also has a significant impact on our perception of time, particularly in relation to the rate at which our time alive is doubled.

The idea of time doubling can be understood as the period it takes for an individual’s age to double. For instance, a person who is 20 years old would experience a doubling of time when they reach the age of 40, and so on. Studies have shown that our perception of time is heavily influenced by the rate at which our time alive is doubled.

When we are younger, time seems to pass much more slowly. This is because the rate at which our time alive is doubled is much slower in our younger years. As we grow older, this rate increases, and time appears to pass much more quickly. This is why many people often comment on how time seems to fly by as they grow older.

Furthermore, the rate at which time doubles also affects our perception of the future. For instance, if the rate at which our time alive is doubled is slow, we tend to think more about the future and plan for it accordingly. On the other hand, if the rate at which our time alive is doubled is fast, we tend to focus more on the present moment and live in the here and now.

In conclusion, our perception of time is a complex and multi-faceted concept that is heavily influenced by various factors, including the rate at which our time alive is doubled. Understanding this concept can help us make better sense of our perception of time and how it affects our lives. Whether time flies by or crawls along, we can use this knowledge to live in the moment and plan for the future accordingly.

Posted on

Holy Crap, finally done: High Impact Management

Reading a business book in public like High Output Management feels like the dorkiest thing in the world. All I think is, “what a try-hard this guy is.” But the cool thing is I’m not in high school anymore and caring about things is cool. So f* those people (who probably don’t exist) judging me.

I started this book on April 20, 2022 (again…originally started multiple times before but just could not make it past the first few pages) –

Here are the takeaways: (this guys took way better notes: https://medium.com/ceoeducation/notes-on-high-output-management-19b8017495d4 )

Chapter 1:

  • Remember the breakfast factory: our job is to understand the “limiting step” in the process
  • Don’t let the wrong step be the limiting step
  • The black box of creating things: how might you create holes in the process to check on things being made and make sure they’re being created
  • QA – In-process test vs functional tests
  • Try and detect problems as soon as possible in the process, it’s the lowest value stage

Chapter 2

  • More on Blackbox Indicators – How do you keep an eye on things? Here are the big chunky phases to create indicators:
    • Sales forecasts – and how do you measure confidence and adjust the forecast process
    • Material management
    • Condition of equipment
    • Workforce
    • Quality
  • Don’t overfit your indicators – “You get what you measure” to avoid this you can pair indicators to create a balance (should add an example here
  • Linearity Indicators vs Trend Indicators (example: measuring output against linearly should show continuous progress as opposed to huge pushes as a deadline comes up
  • What if need to make compromises in QA – you need to do it with a well balanced management team but never ever mess with reliability
  • Leverage
    • Pg. 35 started to hit on how you can change how you work to get more leverage
    • Output vs Activity
    • Embassy example – when 98% are approved when everything single is reviewed…they should move to sample tests

Ok, the rest of the Chapters.

At some point you have to just finish something and that’s where I got with this book. So many great things in there but also I’ll need to revisit. Here are the things that really stood out to me:

  • Remember the breakfast factory:
    • What are your limiting steps?
    • How can you cut holes in the factory box?
    • Where can you find leverage?
  • Strive for output that aligns with outcomes
  • Don’t let the process become the thing – that aligns with Wiggly
  • Be a coach: No credit, Be tough, Good coachs were good players

Excercise at the end of Book

Great things to do after reading this book:

Production:

  • Identify the operations in your work most like process, assembly, and test production.
  • For a project you are working on, identify the limiting step and map out the flow of work around it.
  • Define the proper places for the equivalents of receiving inspection, in-process inspection, and final inspection in your work. Decide whether these inspections should be monitoring steps or gate-like. Identify the conditions under which you can relax things and move to a variable inspection scheme.
  • Identify half a dozen new indicators for your group’s output. They should measure both the quantity and quality of the output.
  • Install these new indicators as a routine in your work area, and establish their regular review in your staff meetings.
  • What is the most important strategy (plan of action) you are pursuing now? Describe the environmental demand that prompted it and your current status or momentum. Is your strategy likely to result in a satisfactory state of affairs for you or your organization if successfully implemented?

Leverage

  • Conduct work simplification on your most tedious, time-consuming task. Eliminate at least 30 percent of the total number of steps involved.
  • Define your output: What are the output elements of the organizations you can influence? List them in order of importance.
  • Analyze your information and knowledge gathering system. Is it properly balanced among “headlines” and “weekly news magazines”? Is redundancy built in?
  • Take a “tour”. Afterward, list the transactions you got involved during the course.
    Create a once-a-month “excuse” for a tour.
  • Describe how you will monitor the next project you delegate to a subordinate. What will you look for? How? How frequently?
  • Generate an inventory of projects on which you can work at discretionary times.
  • Hold a scheduled one-on-one with each of your subordinates. (Explain to them in advance what a one-on-one is about. Have them prepare for it.)
  • Look at your calendar for the last week. Classify your activities as low/medium/high leverage. Generate a plan of action to do more of the high-leverage category. (What activities will you reduce?)
  • Forecast the demand on your time for the next week. What portion on your time is likely to be spent on meetings? Which of these are process-oriented meetings? Mission-oriented meetings? If the latter are over 25 percent of your total time, what should you do to reduce them?
  • Define the three most important objectives for your organization for the next three months. Support them with key results.
  • Have your subordinates do the same for themselves, after a thorough discussion of the set generated above.
  • Generate an inventory of pending decisions you are responsible for. Take three and structure the decision-making process for them, using the six-question approach.
  • Evaluate your own motivational state in terms of the Maslow hierarchy. Do the same for each of your subordinates.
  • Give your subordinates a racetrack: define a set of performance indicators for each.
  • List the various forms of task-relevant feedback your subordinates receive. How well can they gauge their progress through them?
  • Classify the task-relevant maturity of each of your subordinates as low, medium, or high.
  • Evaluate the management style that would be most appropriate for each. Compare what your own style is with what it should be.
  • Evaluate the last performance review you received and also the last set of reviews you gave to your subordinates as a means of delivering task-relevant feedback. How well did the reviews do to improve performance? What was the nature of the communication process during the delivery of each?
  • Redo one of these reviews as it should have been done.
Posted on

Notebook Aug. 2021 to Aug. 2022

I’ve tried so hard to move away from using a physical notebook for work and personal writing, but there’s something so magical about just putting pen to paper. I hit 1 year at my job which was the start of a notebook. The way I’ve been writing these is that work starts on the front and my personal writing starts from the back. Eventually, they meet in the middle. But how do I make sure they’re not just locked in a drawer never to be found…maybe I retype everything :0

Instead of transferring everything into a digital format. This is a summary of what I covered:

  • Bass guitar with Ben and writing music
  • Why writing is important to me – and how I see more of my dad in my life
  • Reading and notes: Pyramid of Success – John Wooden
  • Reading and notes: Ready Player Two (https://ant.cat/ready-player-two-fun-read-a-bit-cheese/)
  • Skillpath Training: https://ant.cat/growth-and-learning-skillpath-management-leadership-skills-for-first-time-supervisors-managers/
  • Scratch sheets for Valentine’s Day, Birthdays, Mothers Day
  • My thoughts on the movie Luca – I really want to dive into this one before I lose it
  • Reading and notes: High Impact Management
  • Reading and notes: Continuous Discovery
  • Winning at Insurance!!! Not Winning but just not getting as screwed as I thought.
  • Big feelings…all is ok.

Can NOT get over this set by the Blaze… so good

Posted on

Ready Player Two – Fun Read….A Bit Cheese

Fun reads are back!!! It’s been way too much time since I’ve had a chance to get into a fun sci-fi book. Huge thank you to my neighbors for gifting me Ready Player Two for Christmas. Back in May of last year, I gifted their 11yr old son the original ‘Ready Player One’ which I loved. This year the two of us were going to read this at the same time so we could get into the details together.

Grabbed from here: https://fandomwire.com/ready-player-two-everything-to-know-about-the-ready-player-one-sequel/

The start of the book made me immediately embarrassed about suggesting this book to my neighbor’s kid. I’m a new parent myself (daughter turned 1 today!!!!) and I’m not sure what is or isn’t age-appropriate.

First, there was the idea of spending 12hrs a day playing a simulated video game and the theme of escapism. I enjoy the hell out of some video games and getting lost in those worlds. I also know that my real-world self grew immensely when I dumped my Xbox years ago when I realized how many hours a day I was playing (upwards of 4-5hrs a day). Things “magically” started falling in place for me at the time once I did this. My efforts and enthusiasm funneled into things that helped me grow as a person instead of into a fake character that couldn’t do much more than frag the shit out of some other players (Halo 2 Online…How I miss three).

Second, sex, porn, and gender-fluid experiences came up a few times early in the book, and each time I cringed. People have sex and experience porn…yep but I also understood there was a young kid that will read it and felt it was a bit of a teenage thing vs a 6th grader. Maybe not 🤷‍♂️ an issue but it’s like when you’re a kid and a kissing or romantic scene comes up in a movie that you’re watching with your parents. Super awkward…that feeling is what I felt.

Overall, the book has some very cheesy, thin moments in the story but there were some cool concepts. There were also some fun adventures during the hunt that kept me engaged.

Spoilers: Favorite Moments

The way some of the easter eggs worked in the world was fascinating to me. There was one moment early on where an old calendar had to be placed on a wall and turned to the right month…then the setting of the whole location would move forward/backward in time to reveal clues that would have only been available during that time on the calendar. Brilliant. What a fun mechanic and a way to hide an easter egg. I haven’t played many ‘Myst’ types games in a long time but this put right back to being a kid and amazed when you uncover a clue and things happen. Such joy!

The John Hughes and Prince missions were the best part of the planet for sure. I learned a ton about the creators and gained a new respect for their work. The imagery was vivid and it brought me back to some of my favorite movies. :Chef’s Kiss: This was the most like the original book.

Diving deep into the implications of being immersed in a game for 12hrs. Again, the mechanics of how it would work to be lying still for very long extended periods of time was interesting.

  • How would a user protect their real body?
  • What are the effects on the mind/body?
  • What does that do for the overall health of the world, does it make it rush faster to 0 since everyone wants to be in the simulated world?
  • Also, the idea of conscious that can not die. With Elon’s Nueral Link and Meta pushing harder for better experiences…could this be a thing? In the book they did the bullshit thing of not letting anyone know that they are being copied as well as not giving them the option to reep the benefits of such a thing happening :-/ Yuck

Missed Moments

His Mom’s backpack!!!! Ugg there could have been interesting tear-jerking moments that could have been pulled out there.

The whole idea of the Vonnegut spacecraft. I didn’t understand the need for this at all or how it helped move the overall story forward. It was odd.

Sorrento 🙁 I’m not sure this could have been any weaker point in the book. So many details were given to the hunt… little care was put into this character who was driving a major part of the story.

Wrapping Up

Another fast read, the first one I finished in three days because of how excited I was to see what was next, this one was about 2-3 weeks because the first few chapters really hard to get through. Honestly, the last couple of chapters were hard too. But did I have a good time…certainly. I give it a 5/10, but sequels are really hard (Return of Jafar, what a stinker). I still think Ernest Cline should be proud of the works he created and put out in the world. I’m unsure of the factors that played into this book’s release. Really cool elements and interesting thoughts but some funky decisions that made it feel sloppy. Side note: I noticed the other day he doesn’t have Twitter anymore….that made me sad a bit and I’m not sure why…but I hope it’s not because of this book.

Today’s tune by John Orr, aka Kid Overdrive, performing an arrangement from his 2006 VGM album, Get Equipped With Kid Overdrive. It’s badass.

Posted on

Paft Dunk

Random Access Memories will be release next Tuesday, but you can listen to the full album on iTunes through the preview button:

Search on iTunes DAFT PUNK, then click on Album Random Access Memories and then if u want to listen the full album for free just click on text(link) ”Daft punk” in left top corner then you will get in Daft punk albums preview -> click on album Random Access Memories and there will be in left part somewhere in middle picture of the new album and in this picture there is a button PLAY NOW and you can listen for free full 1h14m34s of this new album… PS sorry for my terrible english

The music for today is up there…in that quote. See it. It’s right there. Do it! It’s one of the only hours of your life you won’t want back. I’m listening to it right now and I’m on track 3: Giorgio by Moroder…so far so great (well I’m a bit biased)

But I’ll share this to get you excited:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr12u1tk_rM&w=560&h=315]

Posted on

My White Whale

It’s my white whale. It’s been 14 years in the making. My last chance was 2007 and I’ve been on the hunt for something that I was just a shy too late to experience. It was just out my reach. I just didn’t have enough jingle in my pocket to mingle. No more…I’m ready, prepared, and waiting. Now, let’s take a journey.

A journey back to 1999; when life of computing was on the verge of destruction as it approached Y2K; when Prince was played for weeks straight on the local 97.9 radio station; when a junior in high-school cruised in his ballin’ white 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with burgundy interior, with 2 of the biggest subwoofers $1oo could buy in the trunk. I’m that junior. I’m that balla and I’ve never stopped boomin’…not in my head at least.

Every morning I would pick up a neighborhood freshman on my way to school, pop-in my favorite CD, and on track 2 my favorite song would play. It would sometimes get obnoxious, but I would always come back to it. It asked to be played. During the next months my curiosity and love of this band I knew nothing about grew as I stumbled upon MTV playing an amazing video about a dog and a boombox that rocked my socks off. I just couldn’t get enough. Until my college years started and my musical taste made a pivot. I followed the trend of being untrendy.

In 2007 I returned to my roots with one of favorite jobs of all time, a door guy at a club where my sister was a dj. It was an extremely hard moment in my life emotionally, and some of the most awesome times. My sister and I were not very close and working with the same friends brought us together. It’s one of the best moves I’ve made and I thank Ryan and Jason for taking a chance on a prep kid running the door at their indie club. Sometimes you discover how much harder, better, faster, stronger you are when you’re covered in sweat and dancing your tail off until early in the morning. Especially when your sister drops the music. I wish those times were still around, but I’ll save this for a deeper post. While working one night I heard a slight mention of something that I remembered from my past. I think Vegas was in the conversation and  an awesome show was going on out there. Yeah, that band that boomed in the Cutlass was going to be there, but they’ll make their rounds to other cities. Right? Right?

I missed it. I’ve had to relive it through YouTube. I saw what it was like to be there and watch the music live. That’s not enough. I wanted to be alive too.

I made it a point that a live experience was now a bucket list item. My obsession grew more and more to the point of infesting much of my 2009. It’s attached itself into a weekly habit of constantly keeping a watch out for tours, new albums, or even small appearances in movies. No matter how small their part, they make everything better. I’ve put a watch on SongKick.com. I’ve been saving for a trip. I’m waiting and I’m ready…just give me a hint of a sign.

SXSW ’13 started today. My wife and I were trying everything we could to go, but it would of taken nearly 1/3 of our savings to make it happen and it’s so BIG! There is so much that you feel like you’ll almost miss everything. We decided that it’s not for us this year, but maybe another year. No problem then. Today is just a basic Saturday. Let me just make my weekly search.

Wait…wait…I need to adjust the “Search Tools” to search only the latest in the last month. Ok, it’s working now. Oh hmmm that’s cool.

Wait! What? What’s that? There it is! There it is!!!!!! Samantha! There it is! The words I’ve been waiting for! And they’ve been waiting for me for nearly 4 days and I didn’t know it. The talk of something new. Not based on a movie. Not based on an assumption. But crap your pants proof that something is coming. It’s an article about posters going up all over SXSW. Maybe not exactly “crap your pants”, but pretty damn close. It’s proof! Something is happening! Why am I not at SXSW!!!?

Daft Punk 2013

Then I find out about an SNL ad that ran during last weeks episode… I’ve just crapped my pants. Where have I been these last weeks!? Why do my parents who watch SNL every week subconsciously know about this and I don’t. They probably didn’t even see the ad. They probably were looking down at their dogs who just pee everywhere. Don’t waste your ad there. Waste it on me!

I’m so excited. While writing this I put on a YouTube playlist and just let it run. Oh man my hopes are so high, and hate having high hopes. You don’t want to set your heroes up to fail. Nobody wins. This is why I refuse to watch movie trailers. Nothing ruined, no expectations. They’ve blown my expectations out of the water every time. They’re so beloved by so many groups including the groups that hate “main stream” and these guys ran an ad on SNL. They’re last  shows have been seen as some of the best in the world and I just want to be apart of it.

Now I just hope they do it….one more time.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2fHQs_HG6Y&w=560&h=315]

Posted on

Poo-tee-weet?

About 4 years ago I started reading for fun. This is something completely out of the ordinary for me. I HATED reading as a kid and rarely ever made it through a full book. It was so boring and I always felt like I was going to fall asleep after just a few paragraphs.

I had to force myself, but I find myself enjoying a good read nowadays. The book that got me started on all this was “When You’re Engulfed in Flames” by David Sedaris. http://youtu.be/QabpFCnVnzk

I’m not sure what’s changed my thoughts on reading or why I don’t fall asleep on the third page anymore, but I’m proud to say that today I finished Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five“. It was good and for most people they consider it a short read. But to be honest it wasn’t short for me at all. I’m not the fastest reader out there…at least not when you have to comprehend/remember it. If that’s not the case then I’ve got it down to a book every 30 minutes. Just don’t ask me any questions about it. My favorite line was easily, “if the accident will.” I read it about 15 times and just kept looking at it. Out of context it really makes no sense, but the line before was something like, “maybe we’ll meet again.” I understood what the line was supposed to be, but I didn’t get it. Not one bit. If the accident will what? Why did he say it that way? And then it tagged me. The word “Accident” is treated as an entity. Almost like mother nature. He’s saying if the “will” of the entity “Accident” allows it. It’s just so clever. I don’t how he was able to come up with the things he wrote, but he did a great job at it.

I’ve read three of Vonnegut’s books these past couple year including “Cat’s Cradle” and “Sirens of Titan” which were both awesome. They truly make you look at how the world is and makes you shake your head. Besides the great writing I love how his books are setup. They are broken up not only into paragraphs, but into further smaller sections that make you want to read for a just a few more minutes, ok ok….maybe a just few more minutes and then boom a chapter is done. Any other book and I would be defeated by the length and move on.

I’ve created a goal for myself, using the Everest App, to read a book a month. I also need to set it up to remind me to write this blog daily. Once a month seems slow, but hopefully I’ll get faster. January I read “Start With Why” which had lots of great ideas and thoughts of how to go about communicating, but to be honest you get everything you needed out of his TED Talk (http://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA). I wasn’t a big fan of his speaking style, but his message is great.

So what’s on the shelf next? I just picked up Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” to see how it goes. This typically wouldn’t be a book for me, but it was a present so why not. As for now, I’m proud to have killed another book. So it goes.

Posted on

Oh Savannah

It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a real vacation and explored a new city. Besides my short 1.5 days to the Smokys this past April it has almost been a year since my trip to the wonderful Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.

This years trip was a little bit closer to home and little bit more chill, but still a whole lot of fun. In my 27 years of living in North Florida I’ve never made my way to Savannah, GA. I’m not really sure why it took me so long to visit. I love St. Augustine and the travelling distance to Orlando isn’t that far and Savannah is a pleasant combination of both. Now that this door has been flung open little trip are now probably going to happen quite often.

I enlisted the help of the beautiful Samantha (Sam) to help show me around and explore this little city. She has been here a couple times…so I used that as an excuse to rope her into joining me and showing me around:)

Day 1 – Friday:

  • Traveled to Savannah and checked into the Residence Inn in Downtown. It was nice, friendly, clean and well priced. The room had a full kitchen, lots of space and a rocking chair on the balcony….woo! Rocking Chair! Cabs were super cheap to get to River St. (in the range of $4 and easy to get).
  • Due to my extreme craving for Krystals, we split a Sack Full! I would like to think we split these evenly, but I dominated that bag and pretty much ate all fo them (i know…I know) , we were both weren’t that hungry for dinner till much later. We went out at about 11 and hit up the very nice Bohemian Hotel on the riverfront and went to their rooftop bar called Rocks on the River. Great Decor, decent service, but we were looking for something a little bit more quaint…and near food. The bartender we hit Sweet Melissa’s
  • Sweet Melissa’s =mmmmmmm’s: The bartender at the Bohemian said this was hangover food and not that good without a lot of drinks…HA…whatevs man. I would totes go this place daily. I couldn’t think of why it was so good, but Sam nailed it, “when your cheese is thicker than the main crust, but the end crust is still substantial that makes for a tornado of feelings….”
  • We then made our way across the street at a place called Circa 1875. Loved the layout, design and decor of this little gem. They have certain parts of the bar (the actual bar top) sectioned off with little walls making nooks and space for varying party sizes. It makes talking with somebody quietly while still ordering drinks extremely easily. My only problem with this place was the lack of knowledge of traditional drinks. I guess working at Dos Gatos here in Jax has really spoiled me for amazing drinks. I asked for a Sidecar which is pretty traditional and up there with the Manhattan and they didn’t really know how to make it. A bartender by the name of Catfish came through and even though didn’t make the drink they got close enough.
  • We left Circa 1875 and walked back across the street to the other side of Sweet Melissa’s to hook me up with a burger and fries. The best part was I could cruise the streets with a drink…and then get it “refreshed” at the next place….except that last refresher put me over the top. After the burger, fries and finished drink…i was asleep :0

Day 2 – Saturday:

  • We checked out of the Residence Inn and made our way to the second hotel “The Mansion on Forsyth Park”. It’s quite the little eclectic experience and has art everywhere and neat modern designs inside this traditional building making for a cool experience. Check out some pics! There are some great restaurants in the area of this hotel and the hotel offers a free Chauffer service. They will pick you up and drop you off pretty much where ever you want within historic Savannah. It was great. It also across the street from a very nice park where you can watch people play Ulitmate Frisbee all day.
  • We walked down to a cool Urban Gourmet Grocery Store called Parkers Market. We need one of these in Downtown Jacksonville….hardcore! It’s a gas station (3 one sided pumps), convenience store, and fantastic deli. It sounds weird, but it’s the coolest store that I’ve ever been in. We had an assortment of wonderful salads, a curry chicken salad wrap, homemade cookies, a 320z Stella Artois (Yeah…That’s right!…a 32!), and a Pomegranate Leachy Fruit Iced Tea thing. All of it delicious. We then continued to walk and just explore the city. It was warm out, but it was fun.
  • After asking around a bit we took the recommendation from our bell hop at the The Mansion and went to an awesome New York Style Italian restaurant called Leoci’s. They hand make their pasta to order! It was very nice (a little tiny/cramped), but the food was fantastic. You have to go….bring an appetite!

Day 3 – Sunday:

  • It was a little bit of a late start, but we checked out of The Mansion and went hunting for brunch. We ended up at J. Christophers (recommendation of the front desk guy at the hotel). So glad we did. I had the billy goat omelet…it had everything and goat cheese….what’s not to love. Sam had one their skillets with a sunny side up egg on top….which kicked booty as well. We then split the Blueberry Crunchy Pancakes (blueberries + granola + Pancakes = a little place not of this Earth)
  • We made our way to Tybee Island to enjoy the beach for a bit and hit this little random shop called Fish Art to try and find some cool antiques (We both LOVE antiques 😉 ), but no go. We also had a little mexican at this place called MexiCali. It was ok…we didn’t die.
  • We then made our way back to the J-ville with little traffic, a little rain, but big smiles.

It was a great weekend and can’t wait to revisit. Hopefully it will be less than a year before I get to do a trip like this again…and little miss Sam is around to join me.

Posted on

15 Years Crammed Into 1

This American LifeWell I did it. It took me 1 year and 4 months, but I have listened to all 402 hour long episodes of This American Life.

What started this OCD mess? 20 Acts in 60 Minutes did in December of 2008. I accidentally caught this show while driving on a Saturday afternoon and then I started listening most weekends on 89.9 WJCT. Then I found them online and it was on!

I listened to every episode in reverse order. I think that was the coolest part of it all. I could listen to stories regarding the election of a new president (15 years covered Clinton, Bush, Bush, Obama) and then I could listen to the stories following up to it. The most interesting pieces I believe took place right around 9/11.  Starting in December of  ’01 and working backwards into August it was like walking through a fog and then all of a sudden daylight when the event hadn’t happened yet. I tried to explain this in a previous post.

Great episodes to start with:

Ira Glass does a great job hosting the show, but I find that I prefer Alex Blumberg as a producer even though they sound exactly alike. Don’t ask me why…it’s just how it is.

Scott Carrier is the one producer I really loved listening to. He has a mono-tone, but it doesn’t matter…his stories hook you. The first one I list below is a story about him and his brother testing a theory about how Native Americans ran down their prey instead of using advance weaponry. The second one is a compilation TAL put together.

Favorites of  Scott Carrier:

My other favorite producers are: Sarah Vowell, Nancy Updike,  Starlee Kine (best episode she has is 339: Break Up…she talks with Phil Collins about writing her own break-up song), and of course the stories of David Sedaris.

The TV Show: This American Life also has a TV show that is available to watch on Netflix. There is currently only 2 seasons, but they do a great job of making their radio shows come to life on the television.

The two very best ones are Season 1 Episode 1: Reality Check, and Season 2 Episode 6: John Smith.

I hope anybody that reads this actually takes the time to listen to an episode or two. Get lost in it…and really listen.

Posted on

Dos Gatos

New Bar/club in Jacksonville, FL: Dos Gatos! across the street from the Florida theatre

It was great! I didn’t have one thing to say that I didn’t like. The owner J. has really done a great job of picking out an awesome staff with great decor.

I may have found my new favorite place! So go and check it out!!!

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/sv?cbp=12,16.08,,0,10.54&cbll=30.326591,-81.655837&panoid=&v=1&hl=en&gl=us&w=425&h=240]