I used to make excuses of why I didn’t need to buy that new, shiny gadget. How the current one I owned was up-to-snuff and that there was no reason for me to upgrade. Then, a few weeks later, after seeing other people walking around with a new gadget that I didn’t have, I’d buy it.  This time, I’ve just given in to my sickness.

So yes, next week I’ll have a shiny new iPad which, arguably, will be better than my current iPad. Ironically, I feel sort of liberated. I no longer have to make up explanations as to why I will be holding the new gadget that just last week I said I wasn’t going to buy. It’s kind of nice.

Oh, and I upgraded my Apple TV as well.

I want to learn Spanish because my girlfriend is Colombian, so I got myself a copy of Rosetta Stone.  To use the Rosetta Stone program, I also got myself a headset that had a boom microphone.  The Logitech headset I bought has a USB cable that plugs into the back of my iMac.  The problem is, I didn’t want the headset and the cord all over my desk where it would get in the way.  So I needed to figure out where I could store this, but still be able to get to it when I wanted to use it.

That’s when I came up with the idea for using one of those little 3M stick-on hooks.  I went to the store and bought myself the smallest one they had, which can hold up to 3 pounds. I went home and stuck it on the back of my iMac. Voilà!  I now have a place that I can hang the headset when it’s not in use, the cord doesn’t get in the way, and I’m able to reach around the iMac easily and grab it for when I need it. Problem solved! I’m guessing that this would work on any standard monitor, not just the iMac.

The second step in using your turn signal, is to turn it off when you’re done using it.  In doing so, you won’t give other drivers a false sense of what you are actually going to do.  This in turn can prevent other drivers from pulling out in front of you thinking that you may actually be making a turn.

That is all.

There’s a lot of eating, a lot of drinking and  a lot of my nephew right in front of the camera!

Enjoy!

After searching on Angie’s List to find a contractor that does pavers in my area, I came across BrickPaversFlorida.com.  They came out, gave me an estimate, set up an appointment, and knocked out the entire thing within 14 hours.  I mean in the 1st day, they ripped out the old deck and the laid about three quarters of the patio.  The 2nd day had them only finishing up the laying of the brick and putting down the sand.  They were done with the whole thing by 11:30 in the morning.  I was shocked how fast it took.

Thanks to my good friend Nicole Facciuto, I found a stone and a color that ended up turning out fantastic.  The stone is called New Miami and the color is called Marble Slate.  It reminds me of an old Italian courtyard.

I now have a beautiful, safe place to entertain family and friends.  Now if the Florida weather would just get cold enough so I could light the fire pit, that would be great.

When I was most recently the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, I met someone at my booth who told me that they use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to do all of their blog post. This really got me thinking. I thought to myself well if I could just sit around and dictate what I want to say I could save myself a ton of time and action for a lot of content onto my blog. I mean, I love to talk so it’s really not a problem for me to just sit here and talk to my Mac.

Of course, I was a little skeptical. I didn’t think it would really work the way was advertised. I figured, there would definitely be mistakes and I would spend more time correcting those mistakes than I would have if I actually just wrote the post using my keyboard. Much to my surprise, the software actually works remarkably well! I’m actually sitting here in front of my Mac using a headset with a microphone and dictating this blog post.

Now, it took me a little while to get it set up. I mean, I had to train it to listen to my voice and understand the way I spoke. I’m sure if I gave it even more training it would be even more accurate. Bottom line is, this is probably going to cut in half the amount of time it takes me to make a blog posting than it did in the past. This means, and I should start putting a lot more content on my blog then I did in the past.

I will say this, it’s definitely not cheap. I hopped onto Amazon actually paid $199 for it. Is it worth it? I think if I actually use it and actually start putting much more stuff on my blog and maybe making a little more advertising revenue because of all the new content, then yes it was. What I recommended to others? I think I would. I think that this can be a really useful tool for someone who finds himself writing a lot.

I’ve also decided to stop making excuses for not doing things I should be doing. Eating better, drinking less, and exercising more. Basically, there are things in my life that could be better and I’m the only one who can make them so.

This post is my first one back. I also woke up this morning and ran a mile. Day one is easiest, I know. There’s motivation and determination on day one. The test comes on day ten, day 40 and day 200. When it’s raining. And you’re tired.

But I’m recommitted… I think.

Now, understand this: I’m writing this post from my iPad while connected wirelessly to the Internet. Why, oh why, can’t I just have an electronic file of these documents (on a USB key? Downloadable from my Dropbox folder?) that I just hand to the nurse? The last 15 minutes worth of me filling out documents could have been completed in less than ten seconds.

The worst part is, the documents that I filled out are just photocopies or print-outs of the exact same documents from other offices. Some even show the remnants of White Out marks where a previous doctor’s name was removed and a new one added.

The question becomes: what’s the hang-up? Is it a format issue? Is it a price issue? I would have to imagine that keeping electronic records must be infinitely cheaper than paper ones. Hell, you could store of of them in the cloud, that way they can be accessible from anywhere.

I know Google is working on this and I hope they can make some headway. I’m tired of doing the exact same thing my parents, and even grandparents did. Ask me and this is one of the biggest drivers of outrageous medical costs and it needs to be fixed now!

In one motion, you press the shutter button halfway down and hold, which causes the camera to engage the autofocus. Once the camera has autofocused on the subject, usually indicated by a beep, you continue to press the button all the way down to take the picture.

While that seems simple and, to people who actually know how to use their digital cameras, foolproof, it’s amazing how many people screw this up. It seems that the majority of individuals that you hand your camera to and ask to take a picture of you with your friends/parents/girl or boyfriend/etc just point the camera and mash the button down. This cause the shutter to fire before the camera focuses, resulting in a blurry picture.

Interestingly enough, these are also the people who give you a look when you review the picture they just took in an attempt to check their work. Then you have to make the decision to ask them to take another picture or just say “thanks” and move on.

So please, for the sake of everyone on a vacation with their loved ones who would like to have everyone in the picture, halfway down to autofocus then all the way down to fire. One motion, no double tapping!

Rant over.

However, your username can also work against you. Include a little too much information and there’s a good chance that you’ll have a real hard time getting dates  I’ve posted a list of some usernames below that I believe will, um, hinder you from successfully finding a mate online (but what do I know, I’m still single).

Usernames guaranteed to keep you from meeting someone on internet dating sites (part 1):

For the guys

BigKnockerLuvr

DoinUrMom

14InchesofPain (that one might work, there’s some weird people out there)

ToeJam

Anything with 696969 following it

UMustBTite

NextStopBald

Last1sDead

ImBrokeRU

LivinWithMom

TaxCheat

ImOnParole

WhatJob

For the girls

BigSweetEater

NitPicker

TheNagger

PtheBed

TheAmazon

NeedaHorse

4thTimesACharm

ExactlyLikeMyMother

SocialLifeKiller

TheyllHateMe

NoUrWrong

OnceADude

PleasePleasePleaseDateMe