Blog of Josh Hall

Placing blame is pointless and anti-progressive.  You’re living in and focusing on the past instead of moving forward.  If someone takes the blame, that’s productive, because it stops people from wanting to place blame. Move on, but learn from what has happened.

I hate dress socks.  Why do I have to wear them?

Because that’s what society says is normal and acceptable to be considered “dressed up”?  Not good enough.

Because they’re dark?  How about I got a pair of WHITE dress socks in a variety pack.  WTF???  When would I EVER want to wear white dress socks???

With shoes and pants that fit right, there’s like a 0.01% chance that anyone will even ever see your socks.  Why are they so important?  Some people treat their socks with as much attention as they do their ties.  Who cares?

Dress socks are so thin and they provide no cushioning, especially when you’re wearing uncomfortable dress shoes.

One of the biggest problems I have with dress socks is that they are so tight and, when worn correctly, they stretch up on your shin, restricting circulation and airflow so my feet get super sweaty and anxious for freedom.

I walk about 1.2 miles to work and then a big hill back home in the afternoon.  That blows.  When I step in the door, one of the first things I do is rip that crap off my feet.

White, cotton, ankle socks is where the love is.  comfort, air, easy to put on and take off, easy to bleach and keep brilliant white and they last a long time.  Dress socks get worn out in the heels or toes so quickly.

In high school, I had a friend who loved to wear dress socks.  Even played soccer in them.  Chris Tchinsky.  Maybe I need to ask him what the appeal was…

I love it when my bill comes to something like $8.01 and the cashier either takes a penny from the change cup or just tells me not to worry about it.  The latter is the more impressive and impacting of the two.  To think that they’re more driven make the transaction a nice and simple one, than to make a penny off of me, is a great achievement in customer satisfaction.

Do your best to avoid creating problems for yourself and your offspring.  IE: if you chose a name for them that is in any way entertaining, that’s setting them up to be taunted.  They’re name should be easy to pronounce correctly (phonetics works).  I knew someone named Parker Brothers, Chris Cross, and Secretia.  Those are not good names.

You were odd, and I was awed
by the scene that I’ve seen
one thousand times in TIME’s
big story I read in big bold red
capital letters, capitol letters
to the Prince of Persia, prints of
presents to be bestowed in his presence
by a maid who made the room
appear like a pier you’d see by the sea
blue sky ceiling blew white wall clouds
and I could see with one eye in the telescope
a ship, too far from here to hear
the rock I threw breaking through the glass
breaking the peace with every piece shattering and falling
on your clean floor and you’re looking at me
with a look no one would know just how to respond

Kallie and I went to see “The Social Network” yesterday, and I was surprised to see a lack of emotional tensity or even having the story being “Hollywood-ized”.  The story was fairly believable and down to earth.  I can’t comment on the accuracy of any of it, but from what I was already familiar with, it seemed like they got it as best as anyone could without breaking some non-disclosures.

I came home and did a little research.  On the drive home, I wondered, what ever happened to Tom?  Seems like he’s pretty much out of the limelight at this point.  The reason I thought about him though, was that Myspace turned out to be exactly what Eduardo Saverin seemed to be envisioning with facebook.  Ads.  Who gives a flying crap about Myspace now?  The corporation that owns it, that’s about it.

The movie puts emphasis on Mark Zuckerberg‘s stance on how things “should be” and not what will make him the most money.  To this day, Mark’s been offered upwards of 1 billion dollars by Yahoo! for facebook, but he has turned down every offer.  Why?  Because it’s his baby, he says.  He takes pride in it.  He’s not your typical money hungry entrepreneur.  He’s different, and that is why I respect him, despite any poor tactics.  In this New Yorker article (I highly recommend/require you read it), it’s not hard to deduce Zuck knew his actions were unethical from a legal standpoint, but I don’t question his motives.  To this day, he is showing that he did it because he was going to pour his heart and soul into it, making it his life’s work, and for that, there is nothing that can hold you back.

The movie also reminded me of one of my ideas back in Jan 2005.  Thinking about it more today, one of the latest crazes is to “check in” at bars and cool spots you go.  What if that data was tracked and indexed, especially large events like concerts, parties, sports games, etc.  You would be able to find out if you and someone else were ever at the same place at the same time.  Practically speaking, Kallie’s been to Pittsburgh before, I wonder if we “checked in” while we were here, how close we ever were to each other.

Anyway, this turned out to be not much of a review.  If you’re interested in the story of facebook at all, I’d say go see it.  Even though it’s really based of a book and the characters are stories are just augmented to fit, it’s a good depiction of what probably transpired in the creation of one of the most successful websites ever.  I’d label it inspirational to see someone be passionate about something they believe in, despite having extreme costs of losing best friends, girls, and a lot of freedom.