Author Archive for Jarred

Questioning Things: Vol. IX

Published
by
Jarred
on July 11, 2008
in Questioning Things and Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Today we’re going to do something a little different with our traditional “Questioning Things.”  Instead of having you respond in the comments, you’ll be able to simply and quickly respond through the polls below.  Hopefully we’ll get more participation this way.

These questions are a little frivolous, but I thought it would be interesting to see the numbers.  Next week, we’ll use this system to ask more relevant/serious questions. But, as this is my last day of work at my current job, I’m not in a very serious mood. Roll it.

Dancing

Published
by
Jarred
on July 8, 2008
in Asides
. 0 Comments

Put a little happy in your day. Here is the NYT write-up on him.  Make sure to watch the vid in high quality.  Thanks to Hank for pointing me to this!  - J

There Is Comfort In The Sound

Published
by
Jarred
on July 8, 2008
in Lifestyle
. 4 Comments

Lifehacker pointed recently to SimplyNoise, a site whose sole purpose is to generate white noise.  White noise, apparently, “can be helpful for everything from aiding sleep to blocking distraction.”  There are even desktop programs available so you can fill your speakers with what is supposed to be the soothing/focus-inducing sound of a snowed-out TV rushing rapids, even when you’re offline (ChatterBlocker for PC, Noise for Mac).

(On a side note, Wikipedia states that “white noise can be used to disorient individuals prior to interrogation and may be used as part of sensory deprivation techniques.”  So it can eliminate distraction, but also disorient you?  Hmmm…)

I feel that I do best when I have a little music and some subtle distractions (people moving around me in a library, for example).  If I’m in too quiet or calm an environment, then my focus wanders.  It seems a little counterintuitve, I suppose.  The best way I can describe it is like this: in an environment where there is a little bit going on around me, my mind grips a little bit tighter onto the task at hand.  It’s almost like a challenge to my brain to have a little bit of noise in the background.  If there’s too much, then my brain can’t hold on; if there’s not enough, then my thoughts wander.  Go figure.

But white noise?  Surely not.  It’s still noise, right?

Continue reading ‘There Is Comfort In The Sound’

Journeys With Jrod — Part I: The Decision

Published
by
Jarred
on July 7, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Welcome to a series of posts that I’m going to name after my old personal blog: Journeys with Jrod.  My goal here is to chronicle my thoughts and actions as I pack up my life in one city and move it to another.  Who knows what will happen, but I’m hoping that it will serve as a sort of personal frame tale within the larger study of change that is Tropophilia.  On a slightly more selfish note, it will also give me a way to work out my own thoughts and feelings about leaving my friends and familiar surroundings for a new, unfamiliar setting. I look forward to reading your feedback and advice in the comments.

How It Happened

It began with nothing.

Doing nothing, that is.  Due to circumstances beyond my and, to a slightly lesser degree, beyond my employer’s control, I had no work to do.  A good third, at the least, of my time was being “billed to the firm”, as we say — in other words, being wasted.  Of course, I’m no enemy of free time.  The first few days of idleness were devoted to writing long-overdue responses to e-mails I had received, catching up on blog and news items, and spending some fun hours on YouTube and MiniClip.

Yet, as this blog’s existence proves, I’m not very good with extended periods of unproductivity.  Taylor and I created Tropophilia to fend off the atrophy of our creative and other mental powers that were trained and honed at Davidson.  I felt the same pangs sometimes during my year in France.  The feeling of being really challenged just wasn’t there.  And so it was that I began thinking about trying to find a new job.

I had applied to Google last year before graduation, for a position as a Trademark Assistant I believe.  I’d been a fan of Google for years as my interests in technology had developed, and knew that I wanted to head to law school down the road, so this seemed like it would be the perfect marriage of those interests.  They didn’t have a space for me, though, so my sights refocused on moving to Washington, D.C. and seeking paralegal positions from the abundance of firms headquartered there.

Now it was a different story, though.  I had a year of paralegal experience under my belt.  I had informed myself on legal issues in the technology industry through lots of reading and, a little later, writing.  And, unlike in those months preceding graduation when I was well in the grips of academic intellectual stimulation, I now had something that lacked in my first application: a very real, very intense hunger to have a job that would make a difference, that would teach me new and interesting things, that would challenge me.

Continue reading ‘Journeys With Jrod — Part I: The Decision’

Monday Links: July 7th, 2008

Published
by
Jarred
on July 7, 2008
in Monday Links
. 4 Comments

I’m not so sure I’ll live up to the standard set by Taylor with the Monday Links, but here’s my best shot.  My feeds are a little tech (and Google) heavy, so this will help us appreciate just how great a job he does at providing variety.

  • There’s a privacy stir going on in some recent rulings in the Viacom v. YouTube litigation.  I wouldn’t be too worried, there’s no way that all that information is getting handed over.
  • In other Google news, check out the first international implementation of Street View by scoping out this year’s Tour de France route.
  • People are already lining up a week in advance of the iPhone 3G launch.  Yikes.
  • Engadget reports that a future version of the Prius will have solar-powered air conditioning.  I’m looking to buy a Prius with my forthcoming Google hybrid subsidy… too bad this version hasn’t even been prototyped yet.
  • This makes me sad.  Some dude was trying to sell his vote on Ebay?  Come on, bro.  Don’t whore out your rights for money.
  • The NYT has an interesting piece on how a Facebook co-founder revolutionized the way campaigns are organized online through his creative leadership with the Obama campaign’s social network, MyBo.
  • Ponoko (which we covered here) is holding a 10-day design challenge July 1-10.  $1,000 cash and free production and product advertisement are at stake.  Go get it.
  • “Is e-mail in danger?”, Alex at ReadWriteWeb asks, in the face of competition posed by Twitter and the like.  I don’t think so.

Be on the lookout for more from Eric this week, as well as the first installment in my series chronicling the personal changes I’m facing with my move to California.