linkerjpatrick

I’ve been meaning to do one of these for a while. Every morning I fire up my newsreader software, Newsfire, to see what web sites have been updated via RSS. It’s interested to see and occasionally monitor what headlines and first paragraph summary caught my eye to the point I wanted to click and read more. Here is a list of the tabs I currently have open in Firefox and afterwards a bit of observation of what these caught my eye.

• Developers Welcome Snow Leopard
• God Given Potential
• Trendspotting: Opportunity comes in very small windows
• Lindsey Graham: ‘I need to keep being me’
• Snow Leopard takes on Exchange, SharePoint
• World’s First Renewable Gasoline
• I’m Voting Republican (It’s a parody video)
• 6 Aging Rockers Who Look A Lot Like Grandmas

Two of the above linked article are about Apple next version of it’s operating system and I’m finding it interesting that it’s going to be less front end feature rich and more optimized and at the same time will play a lot more friendly with Microsoft technologies. I love Apple but I’m also a real world user who appreciates that they are trying to be more friendly and work in the business world.

The article on God Given Potential was written by a lady who is a friend of mine in a local business network. She recently lost her husband to cancer and has since then been written this encouraging Christian blog. My faith is important to me and her passion for both her faith and her new found interest in blogging is encouraging.

Another two links are politically based. One about our sometimes controversial U.S. senator and the other link is a parody video that says one thing but actually supports the democrats. I’m a very mixed person politically. I grew up in a very southern democratic family that despised Republicans (except for some rare exceptions) but when I was first able to vote during a presidential election I voted for Reagan and have been pretty conservative ever since. I never vote a straight ticket out of pure principle. I will consider anyone no matter what their party (within reason). I’m more of a libertarian by principle but I’m very strong on some conservative issues that some libertarians are not.

The Trendspotting article was written by a local person who has a great blog on branding and branding is one of my favorite topics to read about as my business does a lot of work helping clients have consistent branding. Another topic I am passionate about is innovation and the Renewable Gasoline article really caught my eye. Finally I love humor, sometimes dark and ironic humor. The article with photos about aging male rockers who look like grandmas really puts things into perspective as it pointed out the result of their goofy hair style choices and years of hard living.

Interesting how clicking on a few links can confirm a little more about the “deeper me” but through this blog I can communicate it to others as well. What links to you follow this morning through newsreaders, e-mails, etc? How do your interest in them reveal more about the deeper you?

Tags: ideas, technology

As I write this I am in the waiting room at Greenville Memorial Hospital. I’m not online as I don’t have an Internet connection but I am creating this post in a desktop blogging software called, Ecto which allows me to write offline and also save posts on my own computer.

My father in-law is currently undergoing a second surgery this month to remove a tumor. Afterwards he will need to undergo additional therapy for the foreseeable future. So far I have listened or watched the following podcasts on my iPhone this morning;

• Mac OS Ken
• Grammar Girl
• GSPN’s Weekly Lost Podcast
• Geek Brief TV
• Mahalo Daily
• and the last part of Podcast Answer Man that I started listening to yesterday

I’m also listening to CocoaCast, a podcast about Macintosh OSX program and the current episode is about the iPhone and Aperture software development kits.

I’m waiting (or would have waited by the time you read this) with my wife, her mother and sister while her dad undergoes surgery. I hope this surgery will get the remainder of the tumor which came upon very suddenly in the past couple of months. Well her mother and sister just returned from the cafeteria and we are headed down for breakfast. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of blog posts flowing in later today and over the weekend as I plan on doing a lot of writing today. Earlier this week I was focused on my still photography and video.

Tags: family, hospital, photography, podcasts, technology, wife

We have all heard the term or question, “What makes you tick?”  I know at times I can be a mystery to a lot of people. If you think you know me by the computer I use, church I go to, house I live or business I run you may know a little bit about me but I’m unsure if any of those give a full picture of my personality, what I value and what interests me.  I think about this “ticking” thing a lot because I do wonder how I come across but maybe this list will help out and also inspire me to write some future posts as well;

• I’m an “information hound” - I love keeping up with current events by reading the news, I listen to talk radio (both conservative talk and NPR - take that demographic people), podcasts and reading blogs
• I love to be organized even though I don’t always put it in practice
• I love photography and strive to perfect it as an art
• I go to a traditional, reformed, Presbyterian church but deep down I am more contemporary
• I prefer the music I listen to have soul, no matter the genre. I don’t care much of anything from the 90’s, 80’s were fun, like 70’s rock, 60’s Motown, big band, Classical, Bluegrass
• I like to know where I am in the process, I hate working on a project with blinders on.
• I love animals, especially dogs - for example see my photos of my last pet Darby who died last year and our current dog, Abby.
• I hate the “party system” of government. Ideally I’m more libertarian, generally vote conservative and get extremely frustrated when my views on government and the rest of my life conflict.
• I love Apple computers but my “standards” are more Internet based. I think all file formats, etc. should be open to the greatest audience possible.
• I prefer long walk in the mountains as opposed to long walks on the beach because I like the diversity in views and elevation.
• A lot of my favorite shows or movies are in the sci-fi genre but it’s not the whiz bang effects that attract me. It always how well a story is told in a clever way.
• I am sentimental to the extreme, be it my first computer experiences, when I first got our dog, or memories of family and friends.
• I find the oddest things funny.  If you want me to laugh do a clever twist on language and say something unexpected.  Good examples include Steven Wright and Jack Handy.
• I love spicy food. Salsa, Tobasco Sauce, Hot Chinese Food and I go crazy with a pepper grinder on my food
• I love coffee but it has to be freshly ground from the beans, both black and green tea
• Favorite food include Salmon, broccoli, Krispy Kreme Donuts, Lemon Pepper Chicken, good bar-b-que, pizza, water with lemon and ice cream.
• Technology in general - I love gadgets, computers and reading about the latest programming languages, etc.
• I’m oddly ambidextrous.  I can only write with my left hand and can only throw or carry a lot of stuff with my right hand.
• I hate think about house work and yard work I need to do but strangely I have a hard time stopping once I start!
• I’m really reserved when you first meet me. You might even think I’m being stand offish but really once you do get to know me we can develop a deep friendship.

So, did anything I said surprise you? If you know me is it pretty much what you expect? Do some things I mentioned not fit into a box you like?

Tags: ambidextrous, animals, apple, coffee, dogs, food, friendship, information, mountains, music, news, photography, process, projects, sentimental, spicy, standards, tea, technology