pyrosarco

The last week or so has left me with little to write about.  Today I started a class on Adobe Illustrator which I am extremely thrilled to learn.  I am starting to look at pictures that people have created and am understanding which parts they used Illustrator for and in which parts they used Photoshop. I personally find it hard to stay motivated and inspired on my own, and have a hard time focusing on tutorials or reading the help menus of programs.

That is why I was not exactly thrilled today when I asked the professor teaching Illustrator, what he knew about InDesign.  He said he knew a lot about it and a good place for me to learn was the Adobe help files.  Granted I could take the InDesign class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I would have already missed a session.

Which really makes me sad, because recently, my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start putting together a PDF magazine.  Which means, I will be the one looked to, to do layout and spread the word via the internet.

I may also note, that spreading the word via the internet, will probably be hard, because this site doesn’t pull in more than several visitors a day right now.  I makes me sad, but what content am I offering my visitors?  I mean really, there is nothing of use on my site, just useless babblings.

That being said, lets continue.  I kind of want the new Samsung Instinct and because I have Sprint, I could get it for somewhere around 50 dollars when my contract has matured.  However, I do feel that it wont replace an iPhone an would probably be a waste of my time.  In which case, I can’t wait for Google to release Android.  I think I read that Spint is getting into that because they have dim future.  Oh well.

In other news, I was almost scammed the other day.  Some guy tried to get me to wire him money be sending a check that I knew wouldn’t clear and saying to send X number of dollars to some other person right away.  I didn’t and he hasn’t contacted me since, add another oh well to the list.

I might have a sprained wrist, and I have a semi-recovering ankle.  Both injuries are from skateboarding.  Plus I met some new people to skate with. Which brings me back to the post I have been trying to write all day and failing miserably at.  “Find People, Progress” was going to be the title.  My theory is this, find people who share the same interests, will help guide you and hold you accountable, and then you have to pursue a relationship or at least a correspondence with them.  In this way you will learn to your fullest potential because they will see to it.  If you don’t have anyone holding you accountable, or no one where you live shares the same interests, then you are going to find it hard to learn, progress, and become better at what you like.

So find some people who want you to do your best, exchange knowledge, learn and progress.

Soon I will be doing heelflips, making cool images in Illustrator, and getting a new car.  All because people are holding me accountable.  I just wish someone would hold me accountable for falling less.

I recently read Seth Godin’s account of dealing with Verizon Wireless customer service.  He speaks about dealing with two, three, four plus people on the phone to get his problem solved.  Perhaps, I have been extremely lucky, perhaps I have been well informed about what I need done, or perhaps the company is dying and is trying to reverse their theory about customer service so they don’t get their asses handed to them.

I, personally have had very few problems with Sprint.  I can’t speak for others I know, my friends went through six different people and several hours of her time to try and get a problem solved.  The very same problem that I called about for her, received timely help, and had fixed in no more than 15 minutes.

By all means, gasp away, because in most cases if I need to contact customer service, I am in and out, problem resolved in less than half an hour.  How you may say?  All you have to do is become as smart as the person you are dealing with.

I learned a long time ago that I don’t like frustration.  I hated trying to explain to someone my problems that I knew little about.  It was efficient for me, and it made them guess at what I wanted accomplished.  This goes for everything in life, not just customer service at your wireless provider.  Here is how you become as smart as the person you are dealing with: research.

In today’s world, you can minimize your time with the customer service people by being knowledgeable.  If your phone spits out an error, quickly enter it into Google with keywords like your phones make and model along with the world ‘help’ or ‘problem.’  Many times you may find an answer on how to fix your issue right then and their.  Other times, you get a name for your problem.  In the case of my friend, she was not able to access the internet on her phone, completely voiding her unlimited data plan.  When she would talk on the phone with the people at Sprint, she would tell them that the internet on her phone was not working.  Naturally they assume she wants to go through a wireless hot-spot.  Her plan entitled her to be able to use the internet anywhere, anytime.  Five minutes of research on my part produced that Sprint calls this function PCS Vision.  When I called customer service up, I said my friend has been having problems with connecting with PCS Vision making her data plan useless, how can this be remedied?

A minute or two later, I am taking the battery out of the phone, the lady on the other end is remotely updating the software, I put the battery back in, press some buttons, it works and I’m asking her to dinner next Friday to show my gratitude.  Well, all but the last part.  The point is, if you make yourself intelligent about your situation–five minutes of research, ten if you’re feeling arrogant or haven’t received something solid–can save you tens of minutes or hours, if not the embarrassment of stumbling through your problem with six different people.

Try to become knowledgeable.  Speak in their terms if at all possible.  Be polite, courteous, and respectful–they will like you and be easier to deal with.  Finally, if you get someone who is obviously a moron, you have the choice to end it and call back (make sure you get his name so when he answers you can call again), or you can ask to be transferred to someone higher, politely.

I was having some trouble figuring out how to add a single RSS feed to Feedly today, so I thought I would make a write up about how one can do it.  First lets find a feed that we want to add.  I like Design You Trust so I will get their feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/dyt

Alright, now that you have the URL, feedly works off of Google Reader.  I had never used Google Reader in my life but it looks like Feedly just makes it prettier.  Anyway, go into Google Reader normally (http://www.google.com/reader/) and then on the left side, click “Add Subscription,” it is in a green highlighted box. Paste your link and click “Add.”

Good, now you just need to add it to Feedly.  If you are prompted to, go ahead and add it to the folder called “z.feedly.seeded”  and you can also add it to the subcategory where you would like it to appear in Feedly; for example, Thinkers, Auto, Web Dev, et cetera.  In this case, I am going to add it to design.

If you were not prompted to put it in a folder right away, or just happened to navigate away from that option.  Just click on the “Settings” link in the upper right corner, click on the “Subscriptions” tab, and find your feed.  Use the drop down menu to add it to “z.feedly.seeded” and then the subcategory of your choice.

Wait a minute or two for Feedly to find your feed and show it in unread material.  Enjoy.

EDIT

Thanks to Edwin Khodabakchian, one of the Feedly software developers for pointing out that you can also add a feed to Feedly by visiting the website and waiting for a +f to appear in the far right side of your address bar.

I think this ad speaks for itself.  We should probably stop bottling water and put up more water fountains.

I am writing this post because when my iPod would no longer be scrobbled, I had to dig through lots of pages in the Last.fm forum to find an answer.  One of the solutions was to download a Java based program that would access the Audio Scrobbler that Last.fm has running on your computer.  I could not acutally get the program–a link timed out–but if you would like to try it, it can be found on Last Pod.

However, the method I used was easy enough that almost anyone can do it.

1. Plug your iPod into your computer.
2. Exit Last.fm.
3. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and run Task Manager.
4. Exit out LastFM.exe and LastFMHelper.exe if they are running.
5. Close Task Manager.
6. Run Last.fm.
7. The scrobble box should pop up with a list of songs that need to be scrobbled.
8. If this didn’t work.  Try doing this again and closing all processes that have to do with iTunes also.

So there you have it.  Enjoy all your scrobbled songs.

I have had the idea of this post for awhile now, however, what Gary Vaynerchuk talked about today has prompted me to write it.  In his video, Gary talks about the kids of today and how they are embracing technology.  Everyone wants to be a part of Twitter, Flickr, whatever to get their name out there and then they wait for the world to recognize them.  He then goes on to speak about them seven to fifteen years down the road, that they will be the people buying things, people that will be choosing the advertisements, what comes and what goes.  Here is the problem.

While we as kids of today may embrace new technology–email, text, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, whatever social network is hot; we can do it all from our cell phones–the real facts are society has not.  The people who matter now, right at this instant are in their late 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and above.  These are all the people who have equity, these are the people that–for lack of a better word–yuppies will be come.  Those who are in their late teens and early 20’s challenging the brands will eventually mature and move their business plans in a more conservative direction.  Playing as if you have nothing to lose is fun when your young, you can bounce back.  Playing with everything at 50 is a scarier concept.

My point is, society has not accepted the Twitters and the Facebook.  The phone is still in, have you heard of it?  That is, or was, the primary function of the device you hold in your hand.  Not to surf the web, not to send text, not to check out what your girlfriend is doing on Facebook; it is to call people.  When some one who is influential wants answers, and wants them now, they call.  Kids today have a problem interacting with people over the phone; I know I do or did.  I am slowly coming to terms that the way to get things done in this society is to call.  Pick up the phone, make the call, you will have an answer in seconds, not minutes, not hours, not days.  You just need to learn to talk to people, interact, adjust to the new social skill that has been around for 100 years.  Kids can’t be so scared to do anything that doesn’t involve the typed word.

To jump back to what Gary said about being patient, waiting and developing your brand takes time.  I feel that it only takes this time because we have become complacent.  Complacent with the time it takes.  We have adapted to a society that comes to us.  To develop ourselves, we need to put ourselves out there in the real world.  Not just through social networks.  We need to live them, make the contacts, establish the connection in real life.  That’s how they did it before SMS.  That’s how companies were started and brands were made.  They did it then, and I bet it took a lot less time via word of mouth.

I was in church today.  And my mind was wondering.  Like it always does.  Maybe if I was good at skateboarding I would pull a double kick flip off the alter, or if it was covered in snow, try the rail with my snowboard, hey that girl over there looks really good, the minister is talking about something to do with Jesus, I’m really hungry, when is this going to be over, wait… is he talking about Indonesia?  Cool, I wish I could go there…

Today the sermon was all about mission trips and how they spread the word of Christ.  Yes, I am a Christian, but I have to agree with my father, at least a little bit when he said, “I don’t understand why we go over there and try and convert these people when they have a religion that is working for them already.  I wouldn’t be happy if someone came and tried to convert me.”  I mean, it makes a lot of sense.  I wouldn’t want someone coming up to me and trying to tell me the benefits of becoming Hindu or Buddhist.  Why are we going and medling in their lives?  It is one thing to talk to a friend who has lost their way, it is another to try and convert someone who already is happy.

But herin lies the problem.  In Christianity you are supposed to share the word of Christ.  Become “fishers of men” if you will.  You are supposed to go out and spread the word.  But to what extent?  No one put guidelines in the Bible that says, “Go out and talk to people who are willing to hear the message and are not already set in their ways.”

I don’t have a problem talking about religion with people who are naturally curious, people who I deem need guidance because of lack of religion, or people I’ve known for awhile and just want to argue about religion.  I wouldn’t have a problem going over to countries to do service projects–build houses, do physical labor, help out, whatever.  But I don’t want to go over and be like, “Hey, I built you a house.  Now listen to me grill you about Christ and what he’s done for you, for half an hour.”  I would be more comfortable with going over and building the house and then leaving some literature about what I stand for.  Sure through the grace of God, people will read it and formulate their own ideas.  I just gave the initial bump.

…maybe they will let me go and I could take photos of the projects, I want to get out of here early so I don’t have to wait in all the traffic, what was I watching on T.V. last night, where did my iPod go?, whoa someone is texting me, pass the offering plate, oh yeah I was watching SNL, wow that girl still looks good…

Yesterday I was having one of those days where things I wanted to get done, were just not happening.  There was nobody to blame but myself.  I was at the point of having a minor mental breakdown–I have had plenty of mental breakdowns over the past six months–when I took a step back.  I realized that I wasn’t going to get anything done and then I went and didn’t.  I came back to my computer last evening wanting to write about something but having no inspiration.  Then it hit me.  What if your environment helped and hindered your productivity? Immediately I knew that this statement was true–a messy environment leads to disorder and failure at moving quickly and completing tasks.  But what about a non-physical environment, what about the environment inside your head?

For the last 6 months I have been living out of a suitcase.  I would leave college and go home on the weekends to visit with my family and friends.  Each Sunday evening I would have qualms about going back to school; there was too much work, I wasn’t enjoying the classes I was taking, I didn’t understand some of the information they were trying to force feed me, and ultimately I was not having a good time being there.  This would build up, and build up, and I would become unstable and complain about it.  I was not able to cope mentally and that made me unable to cope physically.

Environment and [Mental] Productivity

The environment you expose yourself to physically must be neat; or at least organized in some fashion that you understand.  You don’t want to have all sorts of tasks lying around that make it hard to get things done.  Yesterday I had a lengthy list of things to get done: contact schools, look for a job, change cell phone area code, feed dogs, etc.  However I could not get these things done because I found myself too worried about the condition of my room.  There was laundry lying around because I didn’t have hangers.  I didn’t have hangers because my closet was already full with clothing.  A vicious cycle begins with overloading yourself with tasks to do.  If you try to put in too much information, your mental computer wont be able to handle it and in turn you will find your physical self helpless.  Therefore, by keeping and environment clean you will be more productive.

As for a mental environment, it needs to be small.   One can not deal with having a huge area to memorize, maintain, or think about.  For the last six months I was constantly living between home and school, I had two lives.  I had two rooms to memorize where I put things.  Two groups of friends to keep up with and manage.  Everything that used to be simple and straightforward became doubly hard because there was two of everything.  My mind could not take the mental expansion that was occurring.  Greek and Roman philosophers used to take a single favorite place, map it out in their minds, and then return to that place in order to memorize series of words, objects, lists, or whatever.  The point is that for you to be mentally stable you need something constant, and that constant functions better if it is small and and have personal meaning.

Increase Productivity By

• Keep areas neat or organized
• Doing tasks right the first time - this way you will not be thinking about how you could have done it better
• Do not overload yourself with tasks to do - being productive is not about how much you do, but what is worth doing
• Rid yourself of unneeded tasks or delegate them to others - however not your spouse or significant other because they will get mad if they have to clean up the books you threw on the floor
• Allot a small amount of time to get things done - this is called Parkinsons (when you give yourself less time to do something, you’re less likely to put off doing it.  Tim Ferris talks about this in his book the Four Hour Work Week - I recommend reading it for advice on productivity and streamlining, some of it is a bit radical)
• Keep your mental locations small -you will focus better and have a better memory

When visiting a college, everyone asks about the dorms or the food.  Here are somethings that should be asked, but often are not.  In many cases the parent may have to ask the tour guide or admissions person about these:

1. Health Care

Don’t just take it for granted.  Sure the school could be huge, and most likely they will have a docotor and nurse on campus.  However, some schools are small and may not have these facilities available to students.  Especially if the school is mostly a commuter college.  So be sure to ask what kind of health care is available to students.

2. Anti-Drug/Alcohol Housing

I was just at RIT and it is the first college that said they offer housing for students who are totally against drugs and alcohol.  The students make a pledge not to bring drugs or alcohol on campus and not to use off campus.  This is something worth investigating if you don’t feel comfortable around people who abuse substances.  I personally know someone who came into school clean, not having alcohol or drugs, but is now using both every weekend.  Parents, you will probably have to be the person who initiates this question.

3.  Teaching Assistants

Ask if the teaching assistants teach or if they are just used as helpers in labs.  Teaching assistants are just that, assistants; they should not be teaching.  In my experience, every time I have had a TA assigned to me to teach a class, I have learned less, become more frustrated, and had less questions answered because they don’t know what the professor meant by X in this situation or Y in that.  Get into a school that does not allow TA’s to teach, but to do research, help in class, field questions, and collect papers.

4.  Ask for more money

This is something you will have to do after you have been accepted at a college or university.  When you receive your letter of acceptance, some schools will include a scholarship package.  In many cases you will be blown away at how much money they are willing to give you.  It will bring many schools into the affordable range.  However, don’t be afraid to ask for more money.  A simple letter to the admissions office explaining why you deserve more money is usually enough.  Tell them about your good grades, all the extra-extra-curricular things you participated in, and most of all tell them what you will bring to their school–why you are deserving.  In many cases, just asking for more money will be enough.  I know someone who asked for more money and they just about doubled his scholarship.  It doesn’t cost them anything, and you gain a lot more.

5.  Cost to education ratio

This may sound weird and it isn’t something you ask the admissions people.  It is something you will ask current students and yourself based on observations.  Ask other students if they feel they are getting a good education for the price they are paying.  Ask them about the professors, do they let out before class is scheduled to be over?  Do the professors seem knowledgeable or do they just b.s. their way through the class?  Ask students about events that the school puts on.  What speakers does the school bring in, are there perks for students in the community?  After all part of the college education is learning and experiencing things that make us more cultured; these happen outside of the class room.  And after you have done this asking, ask yourself based on the information you have gathered and your experience: Is the cost to education ration even? or would I be wasting my money by coming here?

So there you have it.  Some uncommon things to ask when visiting a college.

I have a Moto Q running Windows Mobile 5, and it is a batter hog.  I mean seriously, my phone died once already today.  Granted the 100+ text messages I receive each day isn’t helping, but what am I supposed to since I need to contact people and they need to contact me?

Well, with some researc I found this app that will help anyone one who uses a smart phone (I think) or at least those of us that have one with Windows Mobile 5.  The program is called Candelight and it comes as a .CAB file.  You download it, install it on your phone, and then click on the icon to activate it.  Presto!  It dims your screen, instantly saving you battery life.

But on the other hand, I still have the problem of receiving a gross amount of text messages.  Everyday I receive well over 100 texts and my phone battery just cant keep up with it.  Part of the problem is the fact that I have a Moto Q, and that it is running a lot of other tasks at the same time.  My problem is really the vibrations.  One it is annoying, and two making parts move kills the battery.  To my knowledge, there is no way to turn off the vibration notification on the Moto Q.  I have tried going through the menus and researching it online to no avail.  Does anyone know of such a way to turn of vibration?  A hack, anything will do.

If not, is there someone out there willing and adept at writing .CAB files that would be willing to take a few minutes *ahem* and write a program that will install and give you options to control the vibrations of your smart phone?  Espcially in the case of a Moto Q running WM5.