More minutae and even more random thoughts - a new tumblog

In case you can't get enough of me (and, honestly, who can't?) I've started a tumblog of the things that aren't quite big enough to make it to TheOtherDrummer.com.

These little things include:

• Sites I find worthy of bookmarking
• Pictures
• Videos
• Gems from my RSS feeds
  
• Thoughts that don't quite warrant a full post here

I used to have my Twitter feed streaming there too, but it was a little much.

The tumblog will be updated more often than here, but with shorter content.

You can follow the more minute details of my life on the web by clicking here or subscribing via RSS by clicking here.

Google Reader redesign

 

Google Reader got a major UI tweak this afternoon. Boo-ya. The look feels a lot like Google Docs. It makes me wonder when Gmail is going to follow suit. Then again, they did just announce a slew of new themes.

Speaking of Reader, you can subscribe to this blog by pasting the following in your RSS app of choice: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheOtherDrummer

Online journals vs. blogs

"I've never really found the time to blog, so to sepak. For me blogging isn't about sitting down on a regular basis and dreaming up something to say. It's more about indignation, frustration, pride and beliefs." - Bob Lutz, General Motors

The above quote came from The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil, a book I'm reading it as part of an assignment for work. So far, I like it much more than the book I had to read last quarter, Testing Advertising Methods by John Caples. That one made me want to shoot myself in the face. But I digress.

I like what Mr. Lutz (great last name) had to say about blogging, and I believe to a certain extent it defines what makes a good blog. Are you reciting the events of the day or week? Or are you writing about things you have a passion about? Sure, online journals are fine and have their place and serve as a way for people to keep up-to-date on what you're up to.  But I think a distinction could be made between online journals and blogs, with blogs being outlets for "indignation, frustration, pride and beliefs".

Am I overanalyzing this? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Interesting poll results (should I drop The Other Drummer name?)

While I figured most people would tell me to get a Facebook account, I'm very surprised that 81 percent of people want me to keep The Other Drummer instead of using my real name as the URL. Would you be so kind as to enlighten me as to why you voted the way you did? Please let me know in the comments - I'm extremely curious.

The status of my 10 fetuses

Apparently my virtual uterus requires more nourishment than the Internet is able to provide. Sad. (But not really, because I hate that widget.)

I'm curious: in general, do you like seeing the virtual uterus widget on people's blogs? Let me know in the survey in the upper-right corner of the site.

I received an interesting comment

Yesterday I received a new comment on a post I wrote back in December entitled, "If you could make a million dollars a year doing anything, what would it be?" In response to that question, a person named Gary left the following:

I would enjoy being a personal companion to anyone in need of having the company of someone who is selfless, highly intelligent, and close to the Source of all there is now, was or will ever be. The gifts I can bestow upon another far exceed what is anything commonly known by mankind, given the other person's ability to free their mind and open up to new realms of thought and being.

Gifts that far exceed anything commonly known by mankind? That sounds worthy of a sign-up sheet! So I put it to you, dear readers...who would like to sign up for Gary's companionship, should he ever start earning a seven-figure income? First come, first served. Leave word in the comments.

I hate this thing

 

I know I'm probably going to offend some people when I say this, so I half-heartedly apologize in advance.

I think this widget could be about the tackiest thing I've ever seen.

Honestly, what makes you think anyone wants to see a baby floating around in your virtual uterus, squiggly umbilical cord and all? I'm happy that you're having a kid. Really. Congratulations. That's wonderful news. I don't want a sneak peek. Thanks though.

So I decided to prove the ridiculousness of the widget by cramming 10 little fetuses in my virtual uterus (I never thought I would write those words) and watching them grow. Like sea monkeys. In a few months we'll see how my digital offspring fare in their crammed space.

Also, I hate blogs that play music automatically when the page loads.

New Google Reader feature: auto-add feeds from your Blogger blogroll - UPDATED x3

I just had this little notification pop up in my Google Reader. Apparently the web app has taken it upon itself to add feeds from the sites I have listed in my blogroll here at The Other Drummer.

It has the potential to be a nice touch, although so far I've noticed a few flaws:

• It's stuck at 49 unread articles when there is clearly only one unread post. Refreshing doesn't fix the problem.
  
• Fundamentally, doesn't it stand to reason that if I have a feed in my blogroll I've already added it to my RSS reader?
  
• That being said, the three blogs Reader added to my feeds are sites I've already subscribed to. They should compare the blogroll sites against my existing RSS feeds to prevent duplication.

Does anybody else have this feature? Is it working for you? What are your thoughts? Or did I get selected (again) by Google's divine providence?

UPDATE: Clicking the "Learn more" link in Reader took me to a Blogger Help page with an Internal Error/We Can't Find What You're Looking For message. The plot thickens.

UPDATE 2: I just logged in (it's now about 11:40 pm) and the feature is gone. I've checked out the forums over at the Google Reader Blog and three other people have reported the same thing. So far it doesn't look like it's being received well.

UPDATE 3: I just checked my site stats and have had five visitors today from Mountain View, California. Google...are you out there?

An announcement and an apology

Yeah. Sorry. I'm alive. Just sorta been neglecting my digital duties of late. Despite the fact that my posts here have dwindled and I'm down to about one post per week on LivSimpl, for some inexplicable reason I've decided to launch a new project called Write In My Journal.

The idea of Write In My Journal is this: I approach people who look interesting - like they have a story to tell - and ask them if they, knowing they’ll most likely never see me again, will write in my journal.
They’re free to write whatever they want. I may give them a prompt to start but ultimately it’s up to them.

There are so many people out there with such diverse backgrounds and perspectives and it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Have you ever looked at a person and thought, “I wonder what their story is? How did they get to where they are? What are their dreams?” I do. All the time. (Is that weird?) This is my chance to get to know some of them, even if it’s just a glimpse, and share their stories that would otherwise go untold.

So I carry around my trusty Moleskine notebook (which is falling apart - more on that later) and ask people to write in it, right along side all my own scribbles, lists and thoughts.

Please take a moment to check it out, add it to your RSS feeds and leave a comment or two. Oh yeah, and please tell your friends.

New poll: tired of my anti-Hillary rants?

Check it out in the upper right corner of the site. Slake my curiosity. Vote, and leave your print on this site.

Note that you can vote for more than one.

See? I told you I was alive.

OK. So here's the story: work. Actually, I'm not sure why the *&%# I haven't been writing as much lately. Work has definitely been more insane than usual. And by "usual" I mean "than it was last October." Yes, work has been taking its toll and my brain has been mush. And Brain Mush is not conducive to writing.

Honestly, Call of Duty 4 has been my "decompression" activity lately. Yes, sniping terrorists not only is good for world peace but it's much more mindless than writing. Also, writing isn't a spectator sport - to really dig into something I need to shut out everything else and focus. However, my wife will watch me play COD4 and be a second set of eyes which has me promoted to rank of First Lieutenant II. I now have a sweet new assault rife with a red dot scope. Thank you honey!

I'm also getting old and fat, which means getting to the gym is much more important which means getting up early which means getting to bed early which means less blogging. Curse my love handles!! Curse them!

OK. Lunch break is over. Back to the grindstone.

I'm not dead

Just wanted to reassure my loyal readership that I'm not dead. Just fairly pretty really busy. Sorry for not posting in a week and please don't club me over the head for it.

Oh, and to avoid some mild profanity, stop the video about four seconds before the end.

New poll: how do you prefer to dry your hands in public restrooms?

Just something I got thinking about while I was washing my hands just now. This is the kind of deep stuff I think about all the time. Really, I should be in some kind of think tank where they observe people's brainwaves to figure out how they think of such brilliant things. It'd probably have to be a government-sponsored think tank because my thought patterns could be a threat if they fell into the wrong hands. That's how radically advanced and ground-breaking they are. Seriously, the power I hold between my ears could revolutionize the world.

Also, I forgot to put on deodorant this morning.

No. 500

This is it. My 500th post. Yep. It was going to be a big deal. I wanted to do something really special so I kept putting it off, waiting for some brilliant idea so I could really acknowledge the milestone in style, complete with fireworks and a visit from Lady Liberty.

I waited. And waited some more. It's been a few days and I have some ideas for posts saved as drafts, but none good enough for my glorious 500th post! So I continued to wait for the inspiration worthy of the occasion.

Then I realized I should just post something and be done with it.

So that's what I've done.

Happy 500th post, The Other Drummer. Here's to many more design changes, URL changes, posts about technology that nobody reads but that I love to write (anybody want a freelancer?), rants and the fictitious stories I kinda-sorta try to pass off as being legit (those are my favorite).

12 hour days with no end in sight

Lots going on you know. Long hours at the office this week - big pitch coming up in addition to being insanely busy to begin with. Didn't get home until about 10:00 last night and tonight's not looking any better. But while I always prefer to spend time with my family, there's definitely a satisfaction that comes from working long and hard on something. It feels good.

That being said, The Other Drummer has been neglected. Poor blog. There's no time to write about my first experience voting (doesn't seem quite as anonymous as I'd expected...but then again, the poll worker never asked to see my ID so who's to say it was really me who voted that way?) and last night's Super Tuesday primaries (I'm baffled that anyone is taking Hillary Clinton seriously).

I will, however, be making updates to my Twitter feed (it's much faster than writing a whole post) so check that out here or in the sidebar of this here blog under "What I'm Up To".

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite posts: the place where I record the funny stuff we all say, the completely fictitious story about the first and second Thanksgivings, my fan mail, and my idea for a Broadway musical involving Don Cheadle.

Wish me luck, and see you on the other side.

Paperwork image courtesy of this site from across the Pond.

New site feature: see what I'm reading

For anyone who's interested, I've added a nifty little app in the sidebar that let's you follow what I've been reading in my RSS feeds. It doesn't show all of my feeds - only the latest five I've decided to share.

Check it out and if you have any sites you think I should be following, please leave word in the comments.

Much love,

Me

There's this new thing all the kids are doing nowadays - it's called Twitter

While I've been on the Twitter bandwagon for a while now (1,300+ updates) I haven't really promoted it as part of this site, other than to have a feed in the sidebar which, I would imagine, goes quite unnoticed most of the time. I think I'm going to try to use it more extensively, so if you're interested, I'd love to have you follow me on Twitter. Here's the URL:

http://www.twitter.com/theotherdrummer

If you're not sure what Twitter is, here's the explanation from their site:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

With Twitter, you can stay hyper–connected to your friends and always know what they’re doing. Or, you can stop following them any time. You can even set quiet times on Twitter so you’re not interrupted. Twitter puts you in control and becomes a modern antidote to information overload.

Good luck Twittering!

Readers, you are the wind beneath my wings

After cutting me down, you, my faithful readers, are right there to lift me back up. First, you overwhelmingly tell me I look like a/the Yellow Wiggle. Then you immediately swoop in and buoy my spirits with comments such as these:

"Hey, a Wiggle isn't too bad...it could be worse."

"In another 20 years you may not look anything like him anymore. Thank you time."

"If you could somehow score the sweet looking Wiggle-mobile the look a likeness might not be a bad thing."

And my personal favorite: "Don't go and kill yourself over it."

Readers, thank you. I feel much better about everything now. Your (kind?) words have warmed my heart and comforted my soul. Thank you.

This year's resolutions

I'm guessing that based on the above photo you assumed my resolutions included getting chiseled abs, rippling biceps and perky pectorals.

Well, you'd be wrong. I had this statue of myself commissioned last year.

Here are some of my resolutions for 2008. The rest weren't fit for publishing.

• Stop offering kids candy from my car.
• Write more posts this year than last (at least 248).
• Continue with my other site, LivSimpl, at a rate of about three posts per week.
• Fill a large Moleskine journal.
• Stop trying to hit cats I see in the road (my wife's idea, not mine).
• Get 100% home teaching (and report it by the third Sunday).
• Really put some effort into getting my modeling career off the ground.
• Work out at least three times per week (maintaining this physique ain't easy).
• Go to bed and get up early.
• Go to the temple at least 12 times.
• Learn how to drive a car on two wheels. Preferably not my own.
• Be consistently reading a book.
• Vote in some kind of election. Maybe the presidential one. I'm still not sure.
• Stop urinating in the hot tub (when other people are in it).

Now you know what my next year will, and won't, consist of. Any other suggestions? How about your resolutions? Leave word in the comments.

P.S. I also resolve to use the word "jaunty" more in casual conversation.

New look. Whoopee.

Yeah. Got bored. I was trying for something a little less "Blogger-like". I don't know if I succeeded since, you know, I used one of their templates.