macapinlac.com

2008 Ritchie’s year in review

I’m glad 2008 is over! It has been the busiest year in my natural existence. Let me recount the major events that have happened in my life this year and the lessons I’ve learned.

• First comes love… then comes marriage, then comes Ritchie in a … well, not quite yet. This was the year that I got married. How’s that for life altering?
• After a year of school and working for myself, I rejoined the workforce. Not just that, I came back to my old job with more responsibility (and work). At least they promoted me.
• It seemed like I was going to a wedding every single month. I’m not quite sure why that was. Looking back at my finances, I think I spent more on wedding presents than birthday gifts this year.
• Archie got himself a girlfriend! I know this is my year in review, but when one of your good friends finally finds someone (after a very long hiatus). You’re happy for them.
• I went to Las Vegas for the first time.
• I went to Paris and Italy! Good food, good shopping, and nice people. What more can you want on a honeymoon? Oh yea, your wife!

And here are some things from my 2009 goal’s list (nothing like “Go on a date with Jennifer Aniston“).

• More me time. More me and Cheryl time. More me and Family time.
• No more phone buying (for 2009); I am resolving NOT to buy a new phone for 2009. People who know me will understand that this will be VERY hard for me.
• Less work, more success
• Have more fun, make time to enjoy and appreciate

Alright, your turn… in 2009 I will ___________.

10:10 am 2 Comments

My Internet Activity

So I debated about replacing this blog with a lifestream/presence stream (yes, new up and coming buzzword meaning personal skinned content aggregation). Watch for these buzzwords to enter marketer’s mouths like a bad case of gonorrhea.

My ideas around building a lifestream developed like this:

• “Man I should really update this website (macapinlac.com) more”
• “I’m on del.icio.us, flickr, last.fm, digg, youtube, and twitter way too much”
• “I wonder if there is a way of me getting all of this activity into one place”
• “Then I’d have an excuse to not update this blog!”

The interesting thing about a lifestream is that it aggregates content no different from an RSS reader but it allows you to skin that content in a way that it’s visually appealing and makes sense for people. Plus, it’s all your content: your twitter feed, your last.fm recently played music, your flickr photos and your links; so it makes for easier stalking (provided someone actually wants to stalk you). That, or you just have a big ego like me.

Anyway, here is mine: ritchie.macapinlac.com. You can even save the RSS into your reader (but I imagine that it might be Ritchie overload).

9:04 pm 2 Comments

Celestial bodies

Cheryl logs into gmail chat from work only to be greeted by my usual stupidity.

Me: Aren’t you supposed to be working?
Her: I am, my patient is a star!
Me: Cooooool maaan!
Me: How do you treat a celestial body? Can you actively give it medication? How would you give it medication?
Her: You’re an idiot! *Cheryl has logged out*

Well at least she’s learned to just ignore me now.

2:30 pm 2 Comments

Confusedness

Japa dog awesomness!

Originally uploaded by ritchie mac

I think I’m going to try going for shorter blog posts but hopefully more frequent. Why? Well, I think I’m a bit confused. I still have my flickr stream, my twitter stream and the blog (who is really the one that is getting the shaft of the deal). I don’t think I’m 100% sure of how to make them all cohabitate nicely. The situation is awkward like the person who doesn’t quite know how to end a conversation smoothly and resorts to just bluntly turning around and walking away.

9:41 pm 3 Comments

Amazingly useless yet oddly hypnotic

Tonight, I was supposed to work on a project, but I didn’t. I was also supposed to transcribe some data. I was also supposed to build a person, some wire frames and put together a usability test. I was supposed to catch up on my TV watching, but I didn’t. I was supposed to finish my draft blog post about Black Friday shopping in Portland. Did I do any of that? Of course not!

Instead, I took inspiration from my student’s enthusiasm to learn code and started writing my own. It’s been a while since I’ve actually found myself deeply immersed in it. The concentrated block of time was a nice change of pace. It was supposed to be a game; but instead it turned into… umm… whatever that is.

Ahh, the little things that amuse me.

9:02 pm 3 Comments