Sleep Experiment

Sometimes it's fun to change things up and these last two weeks have definitely been different for me. You see, for these last two weeks I haven't slept in my bed once. I started out with a simple policy: when I get tired, grab a blanket and pillow and go to sleep where I am. Sounds crazy doesn't it? There's no doubt that the first couple of nights were a little weird.

Interestingly, I've developed a pattern. Since I spend 99.9% of my time in my living room, the middle of the floor has become my new bed. I've figured out the right combination of pillows so I don't get a sore neck, and the correct combination of blankets so I don't broil or freeze. It's actually gotten to the point where I think I prefer sleeping on the floor over sleeping in my bed. My poor bedroom has become nothing more than a repository for my clothes.

Yes, Jessi does think I'm a crazy wacko.

Why did I do it? I think it really arose out of two issues in my life. First was a general feeling of "blah". I really felt like I was just floating through time and not influencing my daily choices much. I'm not going to say I was depressed, because I wasn't, but more had a loss of motivation to check things off my to-do list (and it was getting long fast). Now I often, like many people, wait until the deadline to get things done, but now I was starting to let some deadlines slip which wasn't normal for me at all. As you can imagine, this also led to a subtle uneasy feeling and mental paralysis.Psychological enough for you?

The second reason is much more practical: I wasn't waking up in the morning when I wanted to. I would set my alarm at a reasonable hour, usually 8 hours after going to sleep, and then not get up. I was sleeping 9-10 hours and still feeling groggy in the morning. Yes, I was hitting my snooze 6 or 7 times in a row. Now I'm typically a morning person, so this was REALLY perplexing.

Now I know this kind of stuff happens in cycles. I used to have a similar issue with homework. I would be really productive and then magically struggle to get my work done on time. My secret to pulling myself back was to change something up, which, when it was homework, was location. If I did it at my desk, I would move to my couch or the floor. Or, I would have to move to a classroom and rotate rooms. Each cycle lasted about two weeks, and despite how little of a change it seems, it worked for me.

This time round I'm applying it towards my sleep and it seems to be working. I've been able to get up when I want, I've restored the perception of control in my life and my to-do list is back to normal length (which is still probably too long). So life right now is pretty good. What "extreme" measures have you taken to change up your life?

Eiffel Tower Update

So we've been making progress on our Eiffel Tower. The Lego set comes in three parts so that, I'm guessing, it can be easily stored. I kind of like the modular style. We're already starting to get a glimpse of how big this structure is actually going to be. Enjoy the photos.

Lego Eiffel Tower Unboxing

Jessi and I got a new toy. We're going to be going to Paris for our honeymoon, so we thought it would be fun to build the Eiffel Tower out of Legos. This particular project is 3,428 pieces of pure fun. Check out the slide show for the unboxing and what we accomplished at the end of one day. More pictures are sure to follow.

Update: The slide show now includes our entire build process. Enjoy.

Horton Hears a Who

This week Jessi and I saw the movie Horton Hears a Who and let me tell you, it is a good movie. This movie is an absolute must see film. Even though we've all read the book and know the story, it's still fun to watch it unfold. Jessi and I both agree that our favorite character is the little puff-ball kid character. I don't remember the name, but it's the weird one kid and I laughed loud (too loud?) at everything she did. Not sure if you want to shell out the bucks to see it? Go ahead and watch the trailer yourself to decide. Better yet, just go see it and thank me later.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Sunday was a good day. I woke up early and headed out to my local Fred Meyers. It seems that the only place to buy anything electronic, that isn't Apple, is at Fred Meyers. Seriously, Corvallis has made it a point to keep out as many big retail places as possible. So there are none of my beloved places such as Best Buy,Wal-Mart, Circuit City and Target. Wait, this isn't my point... Back on track.

I went to Fred Meyers early Sunday morning and picked up a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl - the latest in Nintendo's successful Smash Bros. series. The game has a great premise to it: Over the years Nintendo has been creating games with memorable heroes inside of fantastical worlds. Over time the inevitable question arose: Who would win in a fight? Mario or Link? Kirby or Donkey Kong? Nintendo decided to create Super Smash Bros. to answer that very question. So you pick a character, who has special talents based on the original game, and you battle against other characters in arenas that look like those character's original world. Basically, it's a fun way to play with friends and have a blast.

So, I got my copy and started brawling. If you're hooked into my twitter feed, you already know what I'm talking about. What? You're not using Twitter? Well it's time you join the revolution. Until then, let me tell you more about what I think of Smash Bros. Just like all the previous versions, this is an excellent game. They've done a great job of adding tons of characters and twists to make the game ever more fun such as a Nintendog popping up in the middle of the screen to distract you. Also, playing my friends over the internet is plain exciting. Let me put it this way, if you own a Wii, go out and buy this game and I promise you won't be disappointed. Heck, if you've been looking for some way to justify buying a Wii, the opportunity to play Smash Bros. is a perfect reason to make the investment.

To drive my point home (get the game!), Jessi even enjoys playing with me. We like being on the same team and beating up on computer players together. For me, that makes the system worth every penny. Nintendo really has come through on this game.

4 Things I'm Excited About

Here comes the list: 4 Things I'm excited about!!!

1. I just purchased a new monitor from HP - ah... the employee discount is nice... It's a 22" wide-screen beauty. A while back I talked about having multiple monitors and how nice it is a work. I mean, it's soooooo nice to be able to see everything at once. This is especially true with the web development I do. Now I can have three documents open and viewable at one time PLUS have the browser viewable on the other monitor. Not having to flip back and forth is going to be amazing.
2. Speaking of the browser, Google recently released a little program to sync Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook. This, quite honestly is pretty cool. You see, I have all my personal stuff ongCal and all my work stuff in Outlook. It's fine keeping them separate, but it meant I was constantly having to memorize my schedule, or turn on my work computer to see what was going to be happening in the next few days. Well... now they're all synced up. I will no longer have to waste time memorizing my schedule or turning on my computer. The best part is that I can accessgCal on my iPhone which means I now have my work schedule in my pocket. Yeah, it's pretty sweet.
3. Speaking of the iPhone, I can't wait until June comes about. Today Apple reviewed their SDK for the iPhone and some of the applications coming in June are going to be amazing. I'm excited about the corporate features, like push email, but I'm just as excited for the other programs. For example, Super Monkey Ball from Sega uses theiPhone's accelerometer for controls. It looks like it's going to be a wicked fun game.
4. Speaking of games, this Sunday is going to be a Sunday of epic proportions. For those of you keeping score, especially you Wii owners out there, this Sunday Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out. I've already set up time to play online against a bunch of friends. We all installed Skype on our computers so we can chat while playing. It's going to be a blast. More importantly, Jessi is excited for the game to come out too. We've played Smash Bros. Melee a few times and she's really liked it. I'm excited.

As you can clearly see, great things are happening and great things are going to continue to happen. I know you're jealous, but that's OK.

ObjectDock Review

I found a new program the other day and so far it's earned my seal of approval. It's called ObjectDock, by Statdock. You know that bar of icons on the bottom screen of every Mac? Well, this is the PC version. I found it for free at Stardock.com where they offer all sorts of free (and paid for) packages. I've tried some of their other programs, but this one seems to actually be helpful. One of the features I like is the ability to add docklets, or buttons that do a little more than just act as a shortcut. I went to wincustomize.com and found all sorts to choose from. One docklet displays icons from my system tray so I can completely hide my task bar and gain that space back. Another one I like I found at aqua-soft.org which will put folder contents into a stack for easy viewing. There are many more, like a battery monitor, to choose from.

I really like this program because it gives me back my desktop. I don't have to share it with task bar, or deal with the task bar popping out any time something happens. You know what? This is enough reading. Go ahead and download it and try it for a week. Trust me, I think you'll like it and if you have any questions feel free to send them my way.

Web Crawler Research

I've recently been doing a lot of research on making a web crawler and it's fairly interesting. Basically, a web crawler is a program that makes a map of the web. You start out with a url, say JamesFurlo.com, and then this application scans the page for all of the links. It creates a list of those links for later processing. Then, the application reads the current page. It can look at everything (pictures, layout, meta tags, etc.) or it could just look at a couple things, like just the text. It then takes that information and stores it - probably on a server.

Once it's done everything you want it to do on that page it goes to the first link on the list recently created, say JamesFurlo.com/eFlash, and starts all over. First, creating a list of new links (pages) and then taking an inventory (also called indexing) of the items on the page.

It's a fairly simple process, but can get kind of hairy fast. I mean, just think of all the links on Yahoo! or Digg. The list of pages to visit can get long very fast. As a matter of fact, most web crawlers are estimated to only cover up to 16% of the web at one time. The problem is that the application simply can't run fast enough to view everything out there because pages are being added and changed way too fast.

Isn't that crazy! I've found that to build a web crawler is pretty straight forward, but to make one that works efficiently is more of a challenge. The big challenge I'm facing right now is deciding what language to use. You see, web crawlers are so flexible they can be written in PHP, Perl, Python, Java or even C++. What's the best choice? Good question.

I guess the trick is to pick a language I'm kind of comfortable with and start there. I should probably just try and make one with the understanding that it won't be optimized, but at least I've got something to improve on.

We'll see if it works out. My personal goal is to have something working by the end of next week. Wish me luck.

Cloverfield Movie Review

I'm not intending to write a spoiler, but if you're like me where watching a trailer can be too much info, just stop reading. It's OK.

Alright, with that over with, on to my thoughts. Well, Jessi and I saw Cloverfield last night with a friend. My first observation was about the demographics inside the theater. I don't think there was anyone older than 30 and Jessi was one of three or four girls out of 100ish - and they all sat alone with another guy. After the movie, I think the right people saw it: There is a lot of shaking, action, not much dialog, and is over just as fast as it starts. I'm sure it'll make a perfect video game someday.

The biggest deal was the end. I won't say there was ZERO closure, but let's just say I left wanting more of an explanation. The first person narrative is cool, but it's obvious there's a back story going on and we don't learn any of it. If you're OK with that, enjoy. Think of it this way, the movie is about the characters and their struggles - NOT about the events taking place. In that sense, the movie ended really well. Unfortunately, we've all gotten used to movies like Titanic which is obviously about a single couple, but the movie goes above and beyond to explain everything else.

Jessi did have a good idea once we got out. She suggested they make a sequel picking up where the film ended and treating it like a "normal" movie. In other words, explain everything. From a business standpoint I loved this idea. They have a bunch of people asking questions and looking for a resolution. If they can put a cool twist on the story, I think they could easily make a lot of money again, and make everyone happy. AND make a lot more money.

Oh, just in case you have seen the movie and are looking for just a little more closure, J. J. Abrams has a blog about it. I specifically like his cloverfield production notes, but the whole site helps to fill in the story. See, that wasn't too bad of a spoiler.

A New Project

I've began dabbling in a new project. A friend at work, who's stated 2008 goal is to "own a patent", approached me with a web application idea after a few minutes of joking around with "wouldn't it be cool if..." statements. Now, I can't tell you too much, because A) we might patented it and B) I'd have to kill you, but here's the basic idea:

We're both avid Google Reader users with many (many!) feeds which produce upwards of 200 posts a day. Sometimes I'm not sure how I actually get anything done. As a result of all of these feeds, our reader ends up with two types of junk. The first type are stories we just don't care about. The second are repeat stories. There are alternatives out there that semi-fix these problems, but no definitive solution to fix both problems. Our guess is that over time readers will become more main stream AND more and more people will have the same problem we have.

So, instead of sitting around waiting for an existing reader to solve these problems, we're going to try our hand at our own. It probably won't be as slick as Google Reader, but we're sure it'll be fun trying to come up with a creative solution. By the way, if you happen to know of another program that solves this problem, give me a shout out because I really don't need to invent this wheel again.

Chloraseptic

I have many things to be thankful for, and today, in the wee hours of the morning, I am thankful for Chloraseptic Soar Throat Spray. Yep, I got bitten by the bug yesterday and pulled out my usual arsenal of symptom fighting heroes. I'm not a doctor, so I won't make any recommendations on how to treat a cold, but I use Dimetapp and Robitussin as a nice combo. Those seem to work for me, which I like. I also usually carry with me a bottle of Chloraseptic Spray to numb the throat pain while the other meds do their thing. Unfortunately though, I was out of Chloraseptic Spray, but had plans to get them the next morning.

At 12:30 I was tired of tossing and turning, the cause of which was my sore throat. I did the usual debate: stay in bed and live with the pain or actually wake up and fix the problem. I'm sure we've all had this internal discussion with going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Inevitably, I decided to make the trip to WinCo and buy some Chloraseptic spray. Good thing they're open 24 hours. I'm sure the person at the checkout stand knew exactly what was happening, since I also took this opportunity to stock up on my other favorite medicines and tissues.

On the drive home, I bubbled with excitement because I knew relief was only a couple sprays away. At one point I couldn't wait any longer and grabbed the bottle. I was driving (I'll admit it), so it took a while to get the wrapper off, which just prolonged my excitement. With all the wrapping gone, I smiled and released a laugh in the air - I was about to win. I cocked my hand and opened wide. One pump, two pump - air. Three pump, four pump - air again. Then, with the next pumps I felt the cool liquid land on the back of my throat. It had a burning, yet cool sensation. It's much like a deep tissue massage or stretching early in the morning. It's a good kind of pain that you kind of always wish there was more of. I swallowed and a refreshing tingle ran all the way down my spin. My discomfort was gone and now I can go to sleep.

OSU - Emerald Bowl Champions

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching the OSU Beavers take on the Maryland Terrapins at AT&T Park in San Francisco (where the SF Giants play baseball). It was a ton of fun to go to a bowl game and see all the fan fair. I can't even imagine how amazing a Superbowl game must be. I didn't go to OSU, but now I work in that town, so I've been following them. It also just so happened I was going to be in the area with my family during the game, so I got tickets.

Both teams had some good players and spectacular moments. Maryland went up first with a quick score. OSU was able to respond, but then Maryland quickly put up another touchdown. It seriously looked like it was going to become a shootout. However, both defenses settled down and the scoring stopped. Less than a minute left in the first half, OSU put together a good drive to tie the score 14-14. The second half was another defensive game with both teams struggling to make it into the end zone. With 6 minutes left in the game, OSU put together another good looking drive to make it 21-14. Maryland came close scoring again a couple of times, but just couldn't finish. The game finished with OSU crowned as Emerald Bowl Champions.

It was a good close game and I'm glad I got to go with my family.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great time and were able to relax a little bit. Jessi and I were able to spend Christmas in the Bay Area, CA with my (soon to be our) family. It had all the usual fun of family traditions and presents, but something caught my eye. Suddenly I stopped and looked around when I realized that we were eating dinner on Christmas Eve... outside - in short sleeves! That's right, the weather has been simply amazing. You know, I realize there are some who say it's better cold, or that you must experience the changing of the seasons, but I've got to be honest: beautiful weather all year round is really nice. I know, you're jealous. :)

Merry Christmas!

She Said "Yes"

So, there's kind of big news in my life. Not only am I getting a promotion at work, but Jessi is now my fiancee! I proposed to her last night during a romantic candle lit dinner. She had no clue it was coming, which is awesome. Actually, at first she thought I was joking she was so surprised. Below are a few of pictures of the event.

Dynamic Graphs

In my line of work, we show a lot of data. Furthermore, all of that data is displayed within PowerPoint. Over time, we have become experts in the "display of quantitative information". We've learned how to make slides visually compelling and boil complex numbers and comparisons into easily understandable graphs and charts.

However, over time our information (and data) has become increasingly complex - and this has added a level of difficulty to our work. Our solution, we think, it to use something dynamic. This will allow the user to zoom in and out as they desire and not require us to physically create each level of detail within a new slide.

For example, let's say you have a picture of a car (slide 1). Then some body asks to just see the engine (slide 2). Then they ask to see the cylinders (slide 3). Then the pistons (slide 4). Lots of zooming involved. But then someone wanted to see the transmission (slide 4) and all the individual parts of the transmission (slides 5-20). Yet, there was one other person who wanted to see the interior (slide 21). Then the dash (slide 22). Then the fuel gauge (slide 23). Then the fuel gauge needle (slide 24). Oh wait! That's just one car! There are still 50 other cars to do this for, and each view has it's own PowerPoint slide! Not to mention the comparison views on one car to another (of say a 2006 model to a 2007).

Is there a tool out there that will allow people to choose their own view? Something that will let people peel their own onion on one slide with the data in the background? There are a couple options out there, but we're not sure what would be the best.

Ah yes, these are the types of concerns that keep us up at night.

Snow Joke

I like corny jokes. I think it's funny how stupid, yet creative they can be. I once got into a discussion about how measure the "funniness" of something and there are actually articles out there to further "explain" what makes something funny. It all has that "Dead Poets Society" feel to it really, but that's not why I'm writing. Let's get to the joke.

Q: What do you get if you make a vampire snowman?

A: Frostbite!

Ha ha. I love those kind. OK, now for a totally different kind of humor, but probably even better. Remember those Calvin and Hobbes snowman cartoons? Well, I found a site that has them all printed out. Just like the last time I read through Bill Waterson's book,s they're amazing.

Here's the page, and here's a sample:

Having Goals

On February 23, 2003 I put together a goals list as encouraged by a book I read. From what I read, having goals gives you direction in life - a compass if you will. More over, writing down goals makes them more concrete and "official". Then, you need to put them in a place where you'll see them all the time. For me, the best place is posted in the bathroom right above the toilet. It's a time I'm not doing much, but standing there, and I can get in a quick review at least a couple times a day. When you review your goals, say all of them in the present tense - as if you've already accomplished them. Furthermore, your top 1-3 goals should be written down and placed in your wallet so you have them with you at all times. The last step, and this is the hardest really, is to tell people. Not only does it make it more real, but now you're holding yourself accountable to other people. Believe me, I still get calls and emails from people wondering about my goals.

What's the point of all this? Well, our minds are amazing. You see, over time your brain starts to truly believe what you're telling it each day and to others. Yes, it is a form of brainwashing (but you have to admit it's better than the normal brainwashing that occurs), and over time your brain starts to think of ways to make your goals come true. Want to vacation in Egypt? Your brain will think of ways to save money, borrow money, find discounts, fund raise and all sorts of other creative solutions. You will start to notice (and read) articles relating to Egypt - educating yourself. This concept, of setting your mind on something and then letting your brain figure it out, is exactly what the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki is all about.

How many goals is enough? There really isn't any magic number to the number of goals you have, though I do believe you should only have 1-3 top priority goals. You know, these are the big ones that you feel compelled to accomplish. You should even create sub goals that help enforce your main goal. For me, I write down anything and everything I think would be fun to accomplish. Really, this is so I can get it out of my head, but in a secure place, and refocus on my top goals. This practice of writing everything down comes naturally to me, but if you want to learn more, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen is a great read (or audio listen).

If you want how-to's and inspiration beyond what I've written (if that's possible), then one last wonderful book is "One Minute Millionaire" by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen. It's actually written in two parts: One side is the how-to on everything I've been writing (by Allen, author of numerous books). The other is a made up inspirational story of how a young women implements each of these (by Hansen, author of Chicken Soup For the [add topic here] - this link takes you to some of the top searches, it's a hoot).

So that's it. Define your goal, write it down, review it, share it, and make it happen. Yep, it's that simple, but not necessarily easy.

I Need More Steps

OK, I sit at my computer A LOT - probably more than I should. No, I know it's more than I should. A person, on average, walks 5,000 steps a day. A healthy person walks 10,000 steps a day. I've been wearing a pedometer for a few weeks now just to see how much I walk. Today, which is about average for me, I walked 2,534 steps. Yeah, I sit still WAY too much. Given these findings, I think I'm past the diagnostic phase and am ready to move onto the increase-my number-of-steps phase. How should I do this? Any ideas?

So far, I've come up with one crazy one, which if I could figure it out, would actually be pretty cool. What if I put a treadmill under my table? So, instead of looking at the control console, my desk is there instead. This way I can work (OK, it's actually play) on my computer while walking at the same time. People do this with their TV all the time. Could it work with a table? Obviously I wouldn't be speed walking, but could moving at a leisurely pace while writing an email be so bad? I don't know, I think it has merit since it promotes being healthier but doesn't require me to give up computer time. :)

Gmail Colored Labels

When Gmail first came out, I jumped on that bandwagon pretty fast. Though, when I did there were a couple features missing that I really wanted. However, I was tired of deleting emails just to have enough space to get new ones. When I first started playing with Gmail the one feature missing, the one feature I had become addicted to was message highlighting. Oh my, oh my how I missed that feature. For about a week I submitted that request daily to the Gmail team. As a matter of fact, when I interviewed with Google, they asked how I thought they could improve one of their products and message highlighting was one of the things I mentioned. Yes, that feature is just that important to me.

Well, I (and probably countless others) have finally been heard. Gmail now has label highlighting and it is beautiful. Thanks Goog.

How much do you keep?

It's not about how much you make, but how much you keep. Who would you rather be: A professional athlete who makes $500K a year and spends $501K a year or a teacher who makes $20K a year but only spends $15K? Personally, I would rather be the teacher. Yes, the athlete probably has a nicer house and car than me... today. However, that extra $5K can be invested and used to create even more wealth. Imagine this: you invest that $5K and earn a nominal return in a retirement fund. At the age of 65, you'll have enough money saved you'll NEVER have to think about money again. As a matter of fact, you'll have well over $1 million (if you start at 30 years old) in your account. That athlete, who never saved, will only be up to his/her ear in debt. Chances are that nice car and house will disappear.

Now if you're like me, 65 years old sounds like a long time to wait. What if you could earn better returns that 10% annually? What can you do that adds value to people's lives? There is no right answer, but think about this for a minute. The majority of millionaires in the US are small business owners (we're talking 97%). The other 3% percent are athletes, actors and inheritance benefactors. Also, the majority of millionaires are ... surprise surprise ... teachers. Teachers know how to live within a budget and enjoy a nice chunk of time during the summer to operate their business.

So, as nice as it might be to be a superstar athlete, it's not about how much you make. It's all about how much money you save, and how you figure out ways to have that money work for you.