I like being organized.  I like lists because they help me stay organized.  Give me a list of tips on how to stay organized and I’m in heaven.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/02/organized.people.o/index.html?

To summarize, it’s easier to be organized when you reduce the amount of stuff you have to organize and you make the steps required for being organized easier.

Steve Jobs is an interesting fellow who has had quite the interesting life.  We’re probably reaching a point where some generations don’t know that he was actually fired from Apple back in the 80′s.  He went on to form Pixar, then sold it to Disney to become the largest single shareholder of Disney stock shares.  With all that money, he’s also infamous for not giving to charity.

Here’s some of the top 10 unusual things about Steve:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-altucher/steve-jobs-resigns_b_935874.html

Some of them include that he made the game Breakout, he’s half Syrian Muslim, and he was adopted.

10.  I learned a lot about php, mysql, SEO, html, java, web design, social networking, webtraffic, and a lot of other geeky stuff that’s come in handy in my job and in my personal life.  Sometimes, just doing things is the best learning tool.

9.  When my dad passed, a college friend of his emailed me and said he liked my dad and was sad to learn about his death.  This guy didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him, but I like to think we helped each other heal there too.  He probably felt like he got his message across and got to say good bye, and I got a picture of my dad that I didn’t have before.  Good stuff.

8.  Can you believe people have asked me to give stuff away on my blog?  Heck ya!  I love free stuff.  I love giving away free stuff even more!

7.  When Kallie and I got married, I started doing a genealogy of her family.  After one her relatives found my blog doing a search for “Sealock”, he found my site and we ended up matching our family trees together.  Fun!

6.  This has been a journal and diary for me in a lot of ways.  I’ve gotten lots of entertainment looking at past blog posts and not remember saying those things.  Dreams, rants, or even saying things that other people said is a lot of fun to revisit.

5.  Back in the fall of 2007, I got asked if I knew of a LEGO artist in Pittsburgh.  I said no, but asked if I could help for what they were looking for.  Long story short, I was asked to teach a after school program to some 20 elementary kids.  I’ve taught the 6 week sessions twice and I love it and am so grateful for that opportunity!

4.  When I first started blogging, there weren’t many people out there blogging about their personal lives.  As it caught on, pittsburgh area bloggers started networking with one another.  I certainly have not gotten as close as many of the others have gotten to each other, and that’s largely my own fault, but I still feel connected to them and have gone to some meet ups to socialize.  ONLINE FRIENDS TURNED 3D ZOMG.

3.  Separate from just seeing the history of my thoughts, just being able to express myself, or type out my ideas is therapeutic and calming.  As the blogging platform gets better, it becomes easier for me to type up ideas instead of mulling them over in my head or possibly forgetting them.  I’m able to create drafts, schedule posts, and it’s no longer a chore, but an outlet that I’m able to make work for me.

2.  I’ve lost contact with friends over the years.  Sometimes, those people find me again through my blog after not knowing how to get in contact with me.  Even people that I was only acquaintances with in the first place has stumbled upon my blog and sent me a message letting me know about the small world scenario.  It’s funny when it happens.

1.  You reading this.  Honestly, it’s nice to be able to share my thoughts openly, and then people know how or what I’m thinking and respond back.  It’s kind of like an open invitation to a conversation with me; something I’m not good at anyway.  I’m not afraid of people who know too much about me because they stalked me on my blog.  If that’s how they like to spend their time, who am I to judge?  It’s creating the real world connections that make this blog so fruitful, for me.

1. There’s no delete key.  There’s a backspace, to remove characters from right to left, but there’s no way to delete characters from left to right.
2. Prices are ridiculous.  Especially after they switched to Intel based hardware, prices should have dropped significantly.
3. Their CD/DVD drives sound like death.  All of them.  WHY?!?!?!  RRRRBBBBBRRRRZZZZRAREARE.  Every time you eject or insert, it sounds like 100 little bugs in there are choking on asbestos and they’re about to die which means you’ll never see your disk again.
4. Proprietary hardware is proprietary.  It’s so stupid that I can’t just go buy the hardware that fails and replace it myself.  In the PC world, it works just the the automobile industry.  You have a choice to fix it yourself or not.  Apple says you have to let them fix it and you can’t get the hardware out or in without voiding warranty.
5. Planned obsolescence.  They’ve forced depreciation on their customers.  With their latest generation of the ipad, they even reused the name of the first generation, so you have no clue what you’re getting any more, just that if you haven’t bought it in the past year from them, it’s old and dated.
6. What are they giving back?  Steve Jobs himself was not a fan of philanthropy.  I may just be unaware, but I don’t see huge innovation competitions or research grants or programs coming out of Apple.  Where is the investment in future of people?  future of technology? of society?  I don’t like it.
7. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain hype.  Most companies get beta testers for their new products.  They’ll have honest excitement and information and let everyone know what they’re working on.  Not Apple.  Everything is shrouded in mystery until their big unveiling press conferences.  So much hype.  I’m almost positive that strategy stems from legal paranoia or even actually stealing technology but releasing it before anyone has time to stop them.  Secrecy makes me not want to trust you.
8. Itunes on Windows is a load of crap.  I think they do it intentionally.  There’s no plugin support or API to add functionality or change it around or even customize the appearance.  Not to mention the huge memory leaks and errors.  You see Microsoft spending a lot of time and money making it’s products work on macs, but it’s not the same the other way around.  Even take a look at how they treat their app store developers.  They deny apps based on their mood that day and then turn around and put the same functionality themselves!  ^%$&3@$F
9. You need a third hand for key combinations.  I mean, come on!  4 different keys pressed at the same time and they’re no where near each other?  I feel like I’m playing a micro game of twister.
10. I hate gestures.  More prevalent on the laptops, I hate having to gesture on the mousepad to see what windows I have open or perform certain functions.  I have the same distaste for gesture driven browsing on PC.

Honorable mentions:

• No double click on the mouse – There are ways around this now, but that ticked me off that I had to use the keyboard and the mouse at the same time to perform a function.  Isn’t Apple supposed to be known for their interface design?  Or is it just their looks?
• I hate how the system bar changes by what application is open.  It’s as if there’s no way to get back to the operating system functions without closing every application you have open.

I stumbled on Austin Kleon’s list here.  I’ll break down his list, and add in my own advice and support for each of them.  After all, all advice is autobiographical and all I’m doing is stealing like an artist.  A lot of these are already similar to a Hall’s Rule of Social Order, and some others will be soon.

1. Steal like an artist.

   It’s kind of the art of progress.  You pay tribute to the original idea or author of the work, in the form of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, but then you also add your person style to it.  As in Ecclesiastes 1:9, there is nothing new, everything has already been done.  Maybe if theirs didn’t “take off” yours will.

2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to start making things.

   Sometimes, it’s the journey, not just the destination. Trying new things is how you get to learn about yourself. Look at Seuss’ green eggs and ham. He was so sure he knew himself, but really, he didn’t have a clue. Maybe a bad analogy, heck, all of these could be terrible interpretations of Austin’s list, but who cares? I’m doing something.

3. Write the book you want to read.

   I want to write books. At the moment, I don’t want to read any though, and I think that is what holds me back from making something.

4. Use your hands.

   Sometimes the digital world doesn’t cut it. Go meet people, shake some hands, feel mud, get dirty, experience life instead of just watching it on a screen.

5. Side projects and hobbies are important.

   TRUFE. projects and hobbies are so key to my mental health, it’s not even funny. I need to feel like I’m creating something, expressing myself, like I’m working towards something. Sometimes, it’s the waste of time that is the most important way to spend your time. It’s grounding to realize that you are in control of your time, and ultimately, you need to be happy, not just a to outside forces.

6. The Secret:  Do good work and put it where people can see it.

   Definitely a secret I’m guilty of exploiting. I’ll type up a good email, and send it off to someone to proof-read, just so they can see what I’m doing and how I take care of things. Part of it is ostentatious, but, really, it’s just giving people the opportunity to see truth and know you more.

7. Geography is no longer our master.

   I’ve worked on PHP code with friends from all over the world. I supported the computers of people in Europe from my phone in Pittsburgh. I know more people in Australia, a place I’ve never been, than people 1 block away from me.

8. Be nice.  The world is a small town.

   heh, alright, I’m not very good at this one. It’s still true though. Always be grateful for the things you learn and the people that teach you, because chances are, they still have something to teach you later on, or you’ll need to go back and ask them for a refresher course.

9. Be boring.  It’s the only way to get work done.

   Certainly easy to contradict #5 here. When all your friends go out every night, sure it’s fun, but at the end of the day, you haven’t done anything but hang out with your friends. Sometimes saving your money for investing in something tangible is the greater decision

10. Creativity is subtraction.

    Church. This is my biggest pet peeve with the advent of the youtube sensations. Adding in so many vocal effects, mastering, looping, video editing, all take away from the creativity put in creating the music. The sad thing is, people don’t care.

Here’s a link to hear all 30 of the NHL goal horns.

http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/the-nhls-goal-horns-in-order
Pittsburgh Penguins Goal Horn by TheAwl

Washington Capitals Goal Horn by TheAwl
Boston Bruins Goal Horn by TheAwl

There are some awesome collaborations out there. Mash ups also abound and are wealthy in awesomeness. Some of these can be considered mash-ups, but the fact that both artists involved actually came together to perform it make it awesome in a whole new way.

10. Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson – Scream : This shatters previous standards of awesome on so many different levels. Never again will 2 individual pop powerhouses be siblings and only cross paths in such an epic way as this.

9. Babyface & Eric Clapton – Change the World : Babyface’s solo artist career was short lived, but he remained a powerful force in the background of the early 90s music scene. This was a great step forward for young people who weren’t familiar with Clapton too.

8. Eminem & Elton John – Stan : Blew the stereo-types out of the water with this 2001 Grammy performance. I missed Dido, but that was up there too.

7. Moby & Gwen Stefani – South Side : I think time has a lot to do with this one. Both were peaking in their careers and the song seemed to fit perfectly in both of their individual careers.

6. Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page – Come With Me : I took Puff Daddy with a grain of salt when he broke out after Biggie’s death, but man, did he prove me wrong. He had some high style and some reigning class.

5. Finger Eleven & The Alkaholiks – Daaam : Maybe I’m biased, but I think it’s an awesome cross genre collab.

4. Aerosmith and Run DMC – Walk This Way : A musical first where the two bands crossed genres and did it well.

3. Jay – Z and Linkin Park – Numb/Encore :Following DJ Dangermouse’s mashing of Jay-Z, these two put the theory to practice, in an awesome way. I truly regret not seeing them in Philly for the FREE G8 concert.

2. USA for Africa – We Are the World : Almost too much going on here, but it was just right. The All Star collaboration done after 9/11 is a close competitor, but none of those people had staying power.

1. Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson – The Girl is Mine : This song is the last remnant of their relationship. It’s awesome to see these two powerhouses come together, but then inevitably destroy each other.

Honorable mentions:
Warren G & Nate Dogg – Regulators : Classic song, but neither made it big enough to call it an epic match of collaboration.

Santana & … Anyone : There are some great collaborations there…but they all have Santana, which tells me 1 thing. Santana has no talent besides playing terribly flashy guitar solos over basic melodies.

Rockwell & Michael Jackson – Somebody’s Watching Me : Not really much of a collaboration, but the fact that someone as big during that time as Michael Jackson, lending his voice and melody to some no name dude remains a mystery. Perhaps it will remain that way.

Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Pop_Collaboration_with_Vocals

Here are the top 10 Precarious Building according to TIME.  I’m particularly fascinated with the Sutyagin House, Archangel, Russia, because when I look at all these buildings, I think about how they were built and how they got the materials to where they ended up. Modern structures are easy to fabricate when you have a bunch of heavy equipment and cranes and such. When your building is on a crazy rock formation, or you’re doing it all by yourself, that’s truly impressive.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1995297_1995295_1995294,00.html

The list comes from CNN, but I went ahead and got the youtube links for each track.

1. “She Blinded Me With Science,” Thomas Dolby
   
2. “Dare to Be Stupid,” Weird Al Yankovic – Of course Weird all has to be there.  I’d actually put something like “All about the Pentiums” or “White & Nerdy” on the list instead of this one.
   
   Weird Al Yankovic – Dare to be Stupid
   Uploaded by bolton. – See more comedy videos.
3. “Nerdcore Rising,” M.C. Frontalot – There’s actually a pretty cool documentary called “Nerdcore Rising” with a lot of cool information on the genre of nerd core.  Certainly worth checking out.
   

1. “In the Garage,” Weezer – Something by Weezer needed to be on the list.  They would be the fathers of geek rock for sure.  Them with Ozma was a great tour.
   
2. “Through Being Cool,” Devo
   
3. “Code Monkey,” Jonathan Coulton
   
4. “Particle Man,” They Might Be Giants
   
5. “Add It Up,” Violent Femmes
   
6. “One Week,” Barenaked Ladies
   
7. “Weird Science,” Oingo Boingo
   

The internet is a place of free information by people just like you and me.  Sure, the quality of that information varies greatly, but it’s still information.  As they say, Human knowledge belongs to the world!  So here are the top 100 documentary movies free to watch online.  There are some real gems in there.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-best-free-science-documentaries-online/