I probably talk myself out of writing at least one post a day. I guess I don’t think it is worth expanding on an idea that I could sum up in one sentence. So rather than discard those ideas I decided I will just save them and post a handful at a time. Here is the first batch…

I hate bad sportsmanship. Especially when college basketball players have NBA attitudes.

After 4 days of strep throat, it feels really great to be alive again.

Good work always impresses me, but I am never impressed by a degree, title, or the school that someone attended.

The best movies I have seen recently are: No Country For Old Men, The King of Kong, The Assassination of Jesse James, and Rocket Science.

In all the times I have flown on a plane I have never had a conversation with the person sitting next to me.

After losing 15 pounds in two months I have come to the conclusion that losing weight is easy, it’s the willpower that is the hard part.

The longer I am a dad, the fewer risks I take and the more careful I am with my life.

Friends at work and I kind of started a Christmas tradition where we celebrate Taco Johnukkah. For the last 8 business days before Christmas we eat lunch at Taco Johns. The holiday starts tomorrow (wednesday), so feel free to join in the festivities at your place of employment.

Be sure to check out www.tacojohnukkah.com for more details and menu recommendations!

Several things have crossed my path this week that have to do with the power of exponential numbers. The first was a great movie called Soylent Green which takes place in a future on an over-populated Earth. Here is a video clip of the opening credits:

The second exponential example comes from the Colbert Report where Steven Colbert interviews Chris Jordan. Chris is a photographer whose work tries to show the amount of waste that everyone in America discards every day. Very interesting interview and artist. You can watch the interview here.

The final exponential observation has to do with an addicting little online game called Vector TD. Beating a level involves destroying vectoids that get a harder with each level. Don’t start playing unless you can afford the exponential time sucking side effects!

I have a bootleg (at least I think it is a bootleg) of a Simon and Garfunkel concert from New York in 1966. The sound quality isn’t that great and you can get a much better recording of the same songs at practically the same time period commercially. The problem with the commercial release, although it is superb, is that it edits out some of Paul and Art’s dialogue between songs. Most notably is the intro to Sparrow. On the commercial release the songs starts with Paul saying “relative to nothing, this song is called Sparrow.” It kind of makes sense I guess, but it makes more sense when you realize what was edited out. Paul tells a story about how he was “digging” his reflection in a window only to have his daydream rudely interrupted by a bird. Well, he tells it better than I can, so for your enjoyment I have ripped the full intro so you can hear it for yourself. Paul Simon’s accent cracks me up, too.

There Goes A Happy Bird, by Paul Simon (2.7mb MP3)

I believe that when I die I will go to heaven. Whatever happens to my body doesn’t really concern me. I figure they will bury me somewhere and I hope that some people will miss me when I am gone. The thought of cremation has never appealed to me. I can’t get excited about my ashes sitting on a shelf as a constant reminder to someone that I am dead. Scattering my ashes seems kind of gross when I actually stop and think about it. Then today I read a story that offered an alternative to getting buried that actually didn’t sound that bad to me. Apparently you can have your remains turned into a lifetime supply of pencils! The pencils come with a pencil sharpener that collects the shavings and becomes an urn as it fills up.

As awesome as this sounds, the fact that they can make a lifetime supply of pencils from one body seems a little weird. Just using the word “lifetime” in the context of writing with dead body sticks sounds like a cruel joke. Couldn’t they just say 573 pencils? Come to think about it, I think it would be nice if they were individually numbered. When someone is writing with me I want them to think “This is number 567 of 573. I better make this one last!” Yeah, that would make me happy.

I think the reason I thought this was so cool was because I have always loved pencils. In grade school I was always getting in trouble for taking apart my mechanical pencils. I carried them around in special boxes and stood in awe in the pencil section of the office supply stores. I had strong opinions about the perfect hardness (3b if you were wondering) and spent my allowance on expensive new drawing tools. It makes me wonder if I could be turned into 5mm lead refills instead of a traditional pencil? Hopefully they wouldn’t have to resort to 7mm because that is just so fat and clunky. I would rather be turned into a Bic than 7mm lead. I guess I never grew out of my obsession with pencils. I still have a weird reaction to 5mm lead containers. I get nervous when there is only a couple pieces left. What if I run out!?! Heaven forbid I have to use a pen!

The pencil sharpener urn is another question mark. I am trying to think of all the pencil shavings that I have made in my relatively short life and I bet there is quite a lot. If there really is a lifetime supply of pencils then I imagine the shavings would fill a small room. Something doesn’t add up. This is another reason that I am hoping for the 5mm lead refill option. It just solves the whole “what do I do with the daddy shavings” problem. Did I take that too far? Sorry.

The most interesting angle of the whole pencil concept is what would I be used for? It might be cool to be turned into a hand-written Bible. It would also be cool to be used for drawing. I like the idea of being pressed into a nice piece of stonehenge paper. I can almost feel the eraser rubbing against me and the artist’s fingers smearing me into something beautiful. That would be paradise.

In the end (pun) a box of precious person pencils probably isn’t the best idea for me. I am not going to abandon the idea completely, however. I am going to take the cheap way out and just have free mechanical pencils at the funeral with my name on it. I always feel great when I get a free pencil, and I want people to feel good at my funeral. I want people to say, “Wasn’t that a nice funeral? Did you get one of those free pencils? Yeah, Adrian sure was a great guy wasn’t he?”

I turned 28 yesterday, and it was a fun day. Thanks to everyone who was thinking of me. There was an unusually beautiful sunset, too, and I was lucky enough to have my timelapse camera pointed in the right direction. This is the view I get to enjoy every day outside my office window:

Have you ever had this conversation before?

Them: I have a square block here that I need you to work on.

You: Sure, what are we doing with it?

Them: Remember that thing we did for those other guys?

You: You mean the round hole?

Them: Yeah, we would like to do that again, but with a square block.

You: But a square block doesn’t fit in a round hole.

Them: Well, they are paying us to put a square block in a round hole, so I really think that is what we should give them.

You: I really think a square hole might be a better solution. Can we at least try it?

Them: I don’t think they can afford a custom solution, and besides, that isn’t what they are asking for.

You: I just don’t think it is a good idea to give them a round hole when what they really need is a square hole.

Them: I wish you could be more like Whatshisname. Whatshisname never complains about putting square blocks in round holes.

You: Are you saying I am not a team player because I don’t think we should give them a round hole?

Them: Well, Whatshisname never complains about his work, and he always seems to make square blocks fit in round holes just the way the client wants.

You: Well, I can give it a try, I guess.

Them: Great. I am going to have Whatshisname work on you with this. I am sure he can give you some pointers on square blocks and round holes. I really feel good about this conversation.

There was a crime scene outside of church this morning. The evidence of the crime was unmistakable. The two victims had obviously been killed and then dragged accross the ground. They must have put up a good fight because the skid marks were all over the place. As I walked past the gruesome scene, I was looking at the other people entering church to see if their faces showed any of the sadness that I was feeling. Nobody seemed to notice. It was as if nothing had happened. I sat down in the pew and hoped that the pastor would explain the events that led to the deaths of two innocent victims.

To my surprise, as the pastor described the event he seemed to take pleasure in describing the process. Apparently the crime had been well planned, and when the time came, over a dozen volunteers worked together to finish the job in a single afternoon. But why? The pastor must not have thought it was important to share with us the reasons.

The victims were two large trees that stood ouside the entrance to our church. I can only guess, but they must have needed to be romoved because they were growing in the center of the sidewalk and causing it to crack. Now I don’t consider myself a conservationist or a “tree hugger,” but it really was sad to enter church and pass two giant stumps where the trees used to be. With the trees gone it was the first time I had really took a look at the building. It looked plain and lifeless. Dead.

After the pastor talked about the trees, he talked about a giant cross that had been added to the other side of the church. It covered the side of the building that faces the road, and the pastor apologized to the people who erected it for having not noticed it at first. I hadn’t noticed it either even though I passed it as I entered the parking lot. I was struck by how obvious the missing trees were and how invisible the brand new cross was. I took a visual survey of the front of our church and counted 12 crosses - all of them might as well have been invisible.

I couldn’t have come up with a better analogy for my disappointment with my church and some of the churches I have attended in the past. These churches put so much emphasis on symbols and tradition that they miss the violence and sin in there midst. Often they destroy the few signs of life to make room for more empty and hollow objects. It happens again and again because nobody seems to know their is a problem. They congregation enters the building and sit in the pew oblivious to the violence happening right outside there doors. I know this is an extremely pessimistic view of the church and I apologize.

On a more positive note, today’s service ended by having all the veterans coming to the front and saying what branch of the military they served in and when. It was really touching to see and here these people who served our country so faithfully. Thank you to all veterans from the bottom of my heart.

I counted today and I have been bouncing back and forth between building 8 websites at the moment. Some are for work, some are for friends, and some are for personal projects. The crazy thing is that there is ponentially another 2-5 sites in the que if things go well. As you can imagine, that means it has been pretty much non stop web design from sun up to sun down for a couple months now. I think “burnout” isn’t the right word, but the fact that I am writing about web design instead of doing web design should tell you I need a break. It is actually very exciting and I am thrilled to be able to fill out the web design section of my portfolio.

It seems like I become a better web designer with each website that I build. I am not trying to be arrogant, but there is so much that you need to know to build a website, that it is a never ending learning experience. My sites are now 100% CSS driven. Sometimes I sneak some Flash into my sites and my actionscript skills are improving. At work I have been building sites for RV dealers that use an inventory program called Listman. Probably the biggest challenge and improvement in my skills has come from getting my feet wet with PHP by using Wordpress. Wordpress continues to earn my affection to the point that I will probably choose it over Movable Type for any future project that requires a robust content management engine. First of all, it’s free, and second there are so many plugins available that you can pretty much do anything you imagine with it.

I wish I could give you a link to every site I am working on, but some aren’t ready. Here are a couple links, though, just so I don’t leave you hanging:

BetA Design Group - This link will take you to BADG where I describe BetA in more detail. It is a private community site, so I can’t send you directly to the site. If you are a designer, I encourage you to join while membership is still open.

Running 4 Recovery - This is a site Bennett and I are building for his brother. I think it is a pretty good idea, and hope it takes off.

Forrest Marine RV Center - This is a site I built at work that should launch this week. Don’t look at the logo, it’s not my fault.

That’s about all I got. If you are looking for a web designer, don’t hesitate to ask me just because I am swamped right now. I am a pretty good multi-tasker and I enjoy web design so much that it really doesn’t feel like work. Well, most of the time. Ok, I got to get back to work.

I have been in incubation for a long time about a pet project that I want to develop. I had a vague idea about what the project would include, but without a breakthrough there was no way to make it happen. So I have been waiting. Thinking. Watching. Ready for the light in my brain to turn on. Sunday morning the idea hit me and I haven’t been able to turn the light bulb off. I can’t even find a dimmer switch. Fueled by the adrenaline that accompanies a breakthrough, I am staying up late. When my head finally hits the pillow, I can’t sleep. During the day, I am fighting for extra minutes that will let me get back to developing this idea. It is exciting. Exhausting. Frustrating. Rewarding. And of course it comes at a time when I am completely swamped with work and other “more important” things that I need to do.

I think it is interesting how little control we have over when the “big idea” is going to hit us. I could have focused with complete concentrated for weeks and not come up with this idea. I could have hired focus groups. I could have solicited advice from people much smarter and more experienced than me. I could have taken surveys, read books, brainstormed. Nothing would have produced what I was looking for. And then a random thought triggers something and the solution seems obvious. Why didn’t I think of it before? Why hasn’t anybody done this already? Is this idea as great as I think? One thing leads to the next and you are going 100 miles per hour after being stalled for months or years.

Has this ever happened to you? The lesson is that you can rarely force a good idea. There isn’t a formula for innovation. The best you can do is prepare for it. Stay alert, and one day when you least expect it the idea will hit you. Then when you are face to face with the weight of your idea you will have to confront a new challenge: How do you turn the idea into a reality? That is tough, but it is much more fun (and easier) than coming up with the idea in the first place.

What? You were wondering what my idea was? Yeah, I am going to have to leave you hanging about that, sorry. Stay tuned though.