I want to be a content creator

I want to be a content creator. I don't know exactly what form that will take. It could be blogging. It could be a YouTube channel. It could be authoring books. There's a lot I'm not sure about. But, creating content is something I want to do.

I know that I enjoy learning new things. I also know that I enjoy sharing what I learn. So, why not focus on doing that.

This isn't the first time I've had a goal like this. I've tried to do this before. But, this time it will be different. This time I have a plan.

My previous attempts, I now know, started backwards. I started with the publishing side. I would learn all I could about blogging. I would buy all the gear I needed to make videos. I would read about how to self publish books. I was more interested in the output than the process.

That's what I'm changing this time. This time I'm all about the process.

I still don't know exactly what I'm going to put out there but I have a process to figure that out. Here are the main points:

1. Research anything that seems interesting.
2. Take notes on everything.
3. Make connections between those notes.
4. Use those connections to make insights.
5. Share those connections and insights.

This isn't going to be a quick process. But, the fact that this time I have a process is a big change. This time I know more than how to put the content out there. This time I have a process for how to develop that content.

On Social Media

I've been listening to Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. While I think calling myself a digital minimalist is a stretch, I was surprised to see how many of the recommendations that Cal makes I was already doing.

It was probably around 5 years ago that I decided to make a change. I decided that, for me, a cellular hotspot and a dumb phone was a better option than having a smart phone. You see, I had recently invested in a Chromebook and installed Linux on it making it a machine capable of doing all my computer tasks (besides gaming). But smart phones at the time often did not have the ability to be a wireless hotspot and, if they did, you had to pay your cell phone provider extra for that privileged. This meant that I would need to buy and expensive phone and pay my cell provider extra just to connect my Chromebook to the internet when I didn't have wifi. It was cheaper to get a dedicated hotspot device and a cheaper dumb phone than getting a smart phone.

Before doing this I honestly thought that I wouldn't miss the smart phone. Sure it was convenient to play games on it but I didn't really need that.

What I didn't expect was to suddenly realize how much time I was using that smart phone to scroll Facebook. I hadn't realized that I was using my smart phone to scroll my Facebook feed any time that I was even slightly board. But, without the ability to do that any more, and instead having to start up the hotspot, pull out a computer and turn it on, I just didn't use Facebook as much.

This lasted for about a year and a half. That time changed how I used social media. I now do it much more intentionally.

For Facebook, I almost don't use it at all. I have it around but I almost never just look at the feed. Instead I only use it when I have a specific person that I want to talk to and Facebook is the only way I have to reach them.

I do use Reddit now. But even that I do with a certain amount of intentionality. I skim it a couple times a day mostly when I need a boost of joy from cute animal pictures.

So, if you asked me if I would recommend going without a smart phone—probably not. But, would I recommend dropping it for 30 days like Cal recommends in his book. Yeah, I think most people would probably benefit from the insights that would provide.

GUI? I don't need no stinking GUI

There are a number of hobby programming projects that I have been wanting to do. My problem usually comes down to the complexity of making a GUI combined with a pickiness on my part. I'm familiar with HTML/CSS/JavaScript development and there are some great tools like Electron that allow me to use those skills to make a desktop application. The issue is on the JavaScript framework side. I can't find an actual MVC framework to help me make the GUI I want. All the “MVC” frameworks for JavaScript that I look at aren't actually MVC.

This morning I came to a realization: these hobby projects do need a UI but they don't need a GUI! I work all day long with command line applications in Linux environments. I've also put some effort into making sure I always have a Linux environment close at hand. I can totally just make a command line interface to do exactly what I need.

I Gave Up Soda, Sorta (Not Really)

I used to drink about three liters of soda a day. Now I'm down to about 16 to 20 ounces a day.

For a long time, the only thing I really drank was soda. Coke Zero was my soda of choice. At work I would go through a 12 pack every couple days. I would dring a couple cans in the morning, another can with lunch, a couple cans in the after noon, and then when I would get home I would have about half a two liter bottle between dinner and whatever else I was doing.

But, then I started reading and hearing about how researchers were correlating artificial sweetners with increased appitite. They were speculating that the sweetners were making your body think that sugar was coming and then when no actual sugar arrived it made you hungrier.

I am hungry all the time. I often find it frustrating. So, after hearing this I thought it might be an interesting thing to try and see what happens. But, there was one major issue—caffine.

I had given up soda before and I knew that I was dependent on that caffine. I also knew that if I went cold turkey, I could expect a two week long headache from the caffine withdrawal. I was not looking forward to that.

Then I had an idea. I could take caffine pills!

I looked up how much caffine was in my soda. Then, how much was in coffee that I see other people drinking. And, I decided that a 200mg pill of caffine in the morning would be fine. And then if I wanted I could have another one in the afternoon.

I would argue that this is about the same as a couple strong cups of coffee. And, I certainly see plunty of people having those.

I've been doing this for four or five months now. The caffine pills are doing their job. No headaches, and they give me the boost I'm looking for in the morning and early afternoon. I don't take them every day at this point. Just if I'm feeling a bit sleepy.

As for modifying my appetite—it didn't really work. I'm still hungy most of the time. Oh well.

It's all lies!

Sometimes I look around the internet and see all these people doing awesome things. I want to do those awesome things too. A lot of theme are even achievable things. But, the truth is that nobody is actually doing as much as you might think.

Maybe you are watching a vlog and this person is posting regularly about all the awesome they are doing. Maybe it's clear they have a day job outside of the vlog. Then they also have a family. And they are doing something awesome in their vlog too.

But here's the thing, I'm sure that person is slowly making themselves insane. They functionally have two jobs and a family. That's a lot. I'm sure they are sacrificing something significant to be able to do what they are doing.

Here's the reason I bring this up—I see these people and to some extent try to emulate them. But, very quickly I hit a wall. I find that I'm unable to do all the things I want to do. Usually, I start neglecting my own physical and mental health.

I have to keep reminding myself that I have limits and I can't do it all—no matter how awesome it is.

If you are like me, please try and remember that it's okay to relax and take care of yourself.

What's the point to this blog?

... well, the point of this blog is for me to talk about stuff I find interesting. This means that the blog posts will be mostly of two forms:

First, I'll be talking about things I'm working on myself. I've always have a handful of projects cooking at the same time. This is where I plan on sharing information about them.

The second type of post will be me sharing cool things I've seen on the internet. There's so much awesome out there that I can't help but share it.

So, thanks for stopping by. If you happen to see something cool while you are here put in a comment and let me know. Or, put this blog in your RSS reader. Or, just check back in periodically.

Thanks!

Detective Comics 1007, A Good Conclusion

I previously mentioned that I enjoyed Detective Comics 1006. I said that it was a good start. This is a (slightly belated) follow up.

So I read Detective Comics 1007 and it wasn't bad. No, that's not fair. It was pretty good. My issue with it was that it didn't have a beginning. The beginning was back in the previous issue.

Maybe I'm being picky. It's just that I like comic books to have a whole story in them. That means a beginning, a middle, and an end. This issue only had a middle and an end.

I would even argue that this is a major issue with comic books as a whole. If you can't just pick up an issue of a comic and get right into it how do you expect to pick up new readers? I suspect the answer is that you don't get them interested with individual issues, you sell them trades in the book store. So, the only people that buy the individual comics are the already devoted fans.

Sorry. I was trying to review D.C. 1007 and got a bit off the rails.

Pick up D.C. 1007 if you have 1006 or, if you can, pick up 1006 at the same time. When you put them together they are a fun little story.

Hitchhiker's Guide TV Show!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is my favorite book. So, I have to say that I'm really excited to hear that they are going to make a TV show on Hulu.

Now, I know what you may be thinking: “Didn't I see a movie about that? It wasn't very good.” Yes, that is true. There was a movie (IMDB) and it wasn't very good (Rotten Tomatoes).

But I think the counter example is the recent Dirk Gently TV series (IMDB). That series was pretty good (Rotten Tomatoes). The reason I bring this up is because this series was also based on books written by Douglas Adams—the author of Hitchiker's Guide.

So it is possible to make good content from Douglas Adams' books. But, I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that will happen this time or not.

What are You Working On? Wednesay, July 31, 2019

Honestly, I haven't been working on all that much lately.

I just came back from a family vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. It was an okay trip. I had a good time bombing around on my Onewheel.

If you read my recent post on Warhammer 40k you may be wondering what I decided. Well, I got the Space Marine Heroes assembled and primed. Then I've also started assembly on the Space Marine Assault Squad. But I haven't made a ton of progress on it.

Besides that I've got a couple ideas for blog posts here. So keep watching this space and I'm sure you'll see them.

Eisenhorn TV Show!

It was anounced a few days back that an Eisenhorn TV show is in development. This has the potential to be completely awesome.

I was first intoduced to the character of Eisenhorn in 2005 when Black Library printed an omnibus of his stories. A friend told me to buy it. I did. And it's been fantastic. In fact, I just finished re-reading it.

For those not aware Eisenhorn is a character created by Dan Abnett. He is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe where he works as an inquisitor for the imperium of man. In that role Eisenhorn is intrusted with the oblication to purge the universe of heritics. That is, anybody tainted by connection with aliens, corrupted by the powers of chaos, or other sins against against humanity and it's god-emperor. It's a dark setting and Eisenhorn is a dark character.

If they pull this off and actually bring the Warhammer 40k universe to the small screen that could be awesome. It's probably a steep task though. Eisenhorn if a character beloved by many. Expectations for this show will be very high.

A Wargamer’s First World Problems

I recently decided to get back into Warhammer 40,000. And, I might have gone a little bit overboard at my friendly local gaming stores.

So, now my issue is where do I start? I have some time to do some assembly over the next couple days but I'm not sure which of these glorious kits I should start on first.

Here is a complete list:

• Space Marine Rhino
• Space Marine Razorback
• Space Marine Vindicator
• Space Marine Drop Pod
• Space Marine Assault Squad
• Primaris Redemptor Dreadnought
• Space Marine Heroes
• Space Marine Dreadnought

If it makes any difference, so far I've only worked on a Space Marine Tactical Squad. I've got that assembled and am about 60% of the way through painting it

Any thoughts?

New Doom Patrol Comic Series

So, there is a new Doom Patrol comic—Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds. My quick take on this first issue is that this is a solid start. It could be awesome. Or it might not be.

When Doom Patrol was rebooted in 2016 it was pretty good. But then things managed to get printed out of order with the Milk Wars series (functionally the third volume) getting printed before the comics the built up to it. If that can be avoided this time this might be worth reading.

Now, Doom Patrol has in the past had some issues that didn't have a whole story to them. They were just the middle pages of a graphic novel. This first issue isn't that way. It has a whole plot with a start, middle, and end. But, if they can't keep this up then maybe this book should be skipped.

I plan on trying to catch the next couple issues of this book and I'll post again on what my thoughts are.

What are You Working On? Sunday, June 30, 2019

Years and years ago I used to have a podcast called What are You Working On? or WAYWO for short. The concept to the show was for the group of us to discuss what we were working on since the last time we recorded.

I thought it might be cool to use that concept on this blog. So, this will just be a post for me to discuss recent things I've been working on. I'll try to make posts like these periodically

A couple weeks ago—maybe a month ago—I decided to get back into Warhammer 40,000. This has been taking up a good bit of my hobby time. This has mostly been in painting. I'm working on painting a Space Marine Tactical Squad. I'm making reasonable progress. I'm about halfway through the squad.

Also for 40k I decided to make status tokens. They are pretty basic and simple but, I want them to look nice so they are taking a bit of time as well. Don't worry, I'll have a post on these once I get some photographs of the completed tokens.

I've also been putting a tiny bit of time into Elite: Dangerous. I hit the reset button (AKA Clear Save) on my sencondary account and am trying to get back into the game. I haven't played for a little bit after some discuraging incidents that happend several months back.

That's about it… Please feel free to share what you've been working on in the comments below.