Entries Tagged 'Odd Ends' ↓

Mamalogues, I’m proud as well.

Yep, that’s me. Believe it!

If you are keeping up, you’ve already read the why. But the short story is it was to raise funds for support our troops. I’m a patriot, what can I say.

Where did this really start though? The final part of the journey was to the stylist at the Hair Syndicate. You might think it started this past Saturday on Twitter. But to me, it’s something that began a couple of years ago, with a commitment to myself to lead a more fun and interesting life.

In February of 2006 I found out I had some health risks. These risks made me stop in my tracks. It became apparent that I wasn’t going to live forever. With that realization came a second one, I wasn’t making an effort to enjoy my life. It had become just routine.

The turnaround and push in my life is still ongoing over two years later. Since then I’ve taken up photography, become a social media busy body, dined on foods from all over, and made friends with folks from all over.

This year’s New Year’s resolutions amounted to one thing, to have an interesting year. So far it’s been more than I could have hoped for. Here are a few highlights:
- SOBCon08 - weekend conference in Chicago
- Austin trip to meet with social network friends and cohorts
- Jeff Pulver Breakfast in Vancouver, BC

Going bald? That’s just the latest in the list of interesting and sometimes challenging things for me this year. It’s not that last though.

Upcoming is the first interactive festival here in St. Louis. Beyond that, who knows. The year isn’t over yet. There are blog posts to write, online worlds to explore, creatures to see, and food and beverages to try.

My regret is not being more involved in the bevy of great things going on. I’m not just talking about things on my list, but your projects as well. There are books you’ve sent for review, blog posts you’ve asked for, and events you’d like help with. Some of you want help with fund raisers, school activities, and few have business ideas.

This post isn’t about bragging but to demonstrate that few things are isolated events, nor are they the end of a series, and almost all are the result of our ongoing choices and commitments.

Where is your life taking you? Are you ready? Is it challenging you?

I challenge you to get up and do one thing today towards following your dreams. If you don’t have money or time to move on it today, then invest in it by getting your friends onboard. Tell someone today.

Tell me.

(PS. If you are interested, you can see the videos of me getting my bald on over on Flickr.)

The Flip Mino from Julia Roy on Vimeo.

Fun and flip video. Enjoy.

Beardless on 12seconds.tv

So how did it come to this, one man losing his beard?  It started with eMail Our Military joining up with Mary Kay for Operation Soldier Care.  Weeks have gone by and the original goal of $500 was passed some time ago.  The parties behind it though, Nancy and eMom, felt they should push for more.

The new goal became $5000 and more funds began rolling in.  Things looked good for a few days as the total approached $2000, but as time draws to a close, the rate of donations has dropped off.  What to do folks wondered?

A bright and shiny idea was hatched to help things along. Rob La Gesse (@Kr8tr on twitter) agreed to shave his head for the cause.  His bravery and soon to be baldness brought in more than $350. What a strong run.  Again those things slacked off.

This is where I come into the picture.  I’m minding my own business on Twitter (@tojosan), when I hear rumblings that the fund raising for our troops has slackened again.  Of course I jumped in to ask.  One thing lead to another and I made a fateful statement.

@Dayngr …  If I thought peeps would put in $300 though, I’d shave my head too.

Oh no, did I really type that?  The next thing I know folks are sending in donations and tweeting about it.

Of course I never guessed even $150 would be raised.  Much the fool, I therefore made the next statement.

I’ll shave my beard for $150 on contributions to Operation Soldier Care

The video above gives you a clue about the results of that little statement.  In a short time that amount was donated, but it would be a long haul till midnight, when my $300 challenge ended.

Are you still reading magazines and newspapers? What are reasons for still enjoying print over pixels on occasion?
Reading print is faster than reading online.
This reason alone might be enough for some. I find that I read faster with print once I’ve established a pace. It’s also faster when all of the print is on one page.

Printed media allows you to write in the margins.
Though not something I do often, it is especially common for technical journal reading. This feature is offered in part online by browser adds-ins, though hardly standardized.

Printed resolution for pictures is often better than online.
This could be a debatable fact, but is often true. When not true, you’re often expected to jump out of the article to another site or page to view the image in it’s best resolution.

Reliability for reading is another strong point.
A page in hand is worth a thousand pages waiting to load.

Portability of media is a big plus as well.
Printed media can be taken just about anywhere with little inconvenience. Printed media doesn’t require batteries or outlets, nor a place to work from. Devices like the Kindle though are making inroads.

Printed media is standardized and requires no instructions to use.
Printed media not only requires no special tools, no specific browser, nor optimized display, it is just plain simple to use. You open and read. If you can read, you can use a paper, book or magazine. My mother can use a magazine. My granddaughters can read books.

Several other reasons might be offered as to why someone might enjoy a good magazine read over reading online. In the end though, each individual finds they have their own likes and dislikes, and in my experience, will choose a mix of both media types.

How about you? What are you reasons for still picking up a magazine or paper? What are your reasons for going totally electronic? Do share.

Koontz got your eye was a success. We have a winner! Andrea’s recommendation, Lightning, was the selected book.

Andrea has been sent an $8 gift Amazon gift certificate for her troubles. She was not only first, but suggested several good titles. To narrow the choice I read reviews of each book on Amazon. This gave me some insight on themes.

Lightning was chosen specifically at Andrea’s recommendation and that it involves a sci-fi theme. Koontz takes his spin on time travel.

Andrea, Tony Mast, Tracy Lee, Phil Baumann, and akaMonty, your support and suggestions were helpful. It took me some time to check out each one. The next in line will likely be Fear Nothing, a title recommended a couple of times.

The book is due to be shipped out on Monday. I’ll look forward to its arrival by Friday. Look for a review to follow.

Gary Vaynerchuk, our favorite everymans’ wine guru, has put a challenge to Kevin Rose of Digg.

How far would you go for charity?

One more thing… on 12seconds.tv

Amazon is my favorite place to shop. Yes I live in St. Charles county, but Wal-mart really isn’t where I spend all the big bucks. As you might have guessed that’s where I purchase all my books.

Purchasing leads to recommendations, and recommendations pointed to Dean Koontz. So I picked up the first Odd Thomas novel. I was immediately hooked. So far I’ve read the first three.

Koontz purchases on Amazon of course led to more of his works turning up for me to buy. Oh, the titles are interesting, but they don’t really say much about the books. Let’s list a few…

	Seize the Night
	The Watchers
	Life Expectancy
	Intensity
	Phantoms

You get the drift. Short titles and cool covers. That’s what it’s all about I guess. What I’d really like though is my friends and contacts to make some recommendations about his books. Or heck, just suggest some good alternates.

Ones I’ve read already:

Odd Thomas 1st-3rd books
Frankenstein books - Prodigal Son and City of Night

That’s it. Just those. I’ve been wary of running out and spending $10 on something I might hate. Are the Odd Thomas novels a good indication of the rest of his writing? Are they exceptions?

So I’m asking you, my readers, and the rest of you out there on the net; what’s your favorite Koontz tale or alternate work of fiction.

I’ll post the results here on the blog, so keep the suggestions coming in. As an added incentive, I’ll buy you a book too if I take your suggestion. So be the first to suggest your favorite.

Yours,
Todd