Safari 4

I installed Safari 4 on my Eee PC. It’s really nice. I haven’t updated my Macs yet. I’m trying to get my bookmarks cleaned out and organized. For some reason, there’s a lot of duplicated entries in my bookmarks folders.

If you haven’t tried Safari, now’s a great time.

Writing O.T.R.

I’m composing this on the WordPress iPhone/iPod touch app — I think it’s nice that it exists… free of charge. Accessibility, for better or worse, is at the heart of “blogging.” (For “serious” blogging, I recommend iBlogger, downloaded mine at the App Store for $0.99 USD!)

I’m going in a slightly new direction with my writing… I’m in (and have been-in) the process of consolidating my handwriting… from the scratch paper and napkins, to maruman journals, day planners and agendas, Moleskines to Montblanc “mind notes and matters” and Louis Vuitton diaries.

And then comes the (almost certainly) harder part: consolidating web-writings, forum/group posts, old essays and articles, blog entries and of course, my digital inkwork, inkblogging and Tablet PC art.

I figured, since I’m going to embark on this new journey of action methodology, GTDing and bit literacy, I’ll dive in on the deep-end. I’ve never been fond of the “I’m frightened, gotta dip my toe in, first” excuses… especially because it’s not any easier.

Fear is a bottleneck, and mediocrity is its best byproduct.

I’ve been writing in Moleskine notebooks, but it’s time for change. I want higher-quality, leatherbound journals, ecru paper, Europe’s finest. Seen Canteo? How about Leuchtturn?

I’d also like some Japanese stationery. Japanese notebooks are all-around pleasure; the texture, smell, design… even the packaging is superb! It makes handwriting that much more exciting.

People often cringe at the mere thought of a $100-300 journal — certainly don’t indulge/splurge on the very-first one — but I think, what is memory worth? What is one’s history worth, one’s story, one’s life? Investing in a high-quality journal reminds me each day that my life is worth more than a 99-cent spiral-bound, that my thoughts are valuable-enough to save and savor, and beyond my own life, the art of writing is a valuable tradition not to be lost, cast aside or forgotten and treated like Latin.

Modernization gives us many advantages and simplifications, but it comes at a cost and we suffer losses. Whenever I look at our Declaration of Independence, I’m reminded of once-cherished traditions likely gone for good. It’d make me sad if I could only remember how to be that. Society and “modern American culture” makes me numb… likely to afford me the ability to continue faking “sanity.”

I’m sharing again… hoping someone out there shares my “pain.” (observations)

Another “sad” note: Monthlanc at Stoneridge Mall (Pleasanton, CA) is closing in April. I still so-clearly remember my first pen purchase there… ah, nostalgia. “Laissez les bon temps roule?!” Ah, wishful thinking…

Too bad the “Law of Attraction” can’t save the Montblanc store.

Netbook, Back in Action

My ASUS Eee PC 1000 series netbook has been afflicted…

I somehow contracted some nasty malware, and I’m not sure how it happened. I don’t really venture outside of my select few sites, I wasn’t downloading masses of unknown applications by shady vendors or creators of questionable reliability…

But it happened.

And I learned something — it’s easy to take a built-in DVD-drive for granted… easy to forget that it’s not there, too. The first thing I thought after removable attempts failed was, “Oh well, I can just use the recovery DVD and reinstall everything,” and then I remembered — I lack the drive.

I hadn’t the time to try and remove the malware for a while, working on my new project. With web 2.0’s mass over-proliferation of mediocre “personal blogs” — including this one — it became clear to me that, in order to stand out, I’d have to have something different… better.

Right now, I’m happy to have use of my mini-machine again. Now if I could just find a decent writing program for Windows… (on par with Scrivener, Copywrite and WriteRoom)

Looking for writing software, too? Check out Literature and Latte’s links page for Mac and Windows software options.

Long Away-ness with iPhone and Squarespace

I’ve been massively afk across January… haven’t been able to write, blog or do much of anything due to some medication imbalance, anemia, overwhelming pain, nausea and exhaustion. The past several weeks have been spent at home, mostly in bed.

There are some major new things in my life I plan to discuss soon; for now, I feel a bit better, and fingers-crossed, I hope I’m not catching something from the damp, cold, wonderful weather.

In December, I ran simultaneous trials of TypePad and Squarespace… and have not only decided on a clear “winner,” I intend to share my results. When I was looking at both and searching for reviews, I couldn’t really find anything both “current” and “relevant.” Perhaps my review/s will become that resource for someone else.

A lot of downtime means a lot of time to read (when it didn’t hurt too bad and I could stay awake and clear-headed); thanks to my birthday gift from Kristen — the Amazon Kindle — I’ve been able to voraciously read, more than ever before, “books” of all kinds. Some non-fiction and politics, sociology and psychology, criminology, fiction and fantasy (Gears of War and Twilight), and books/guides on writing. In-particular, a guide: Startup, Blogging as a Business. Really helpful stuff.

I’m finally going to make use of some of the domains I have and massive hosting plans. I’ve been playing around with mobile stuff for some time now, and it’s a passion/obsession shared by many. I’m going to “get in the game” and share my ideas, too.

Until then… remember I still post cool stuff at Antipresto and have microblogs Twitter and Plurk. Let’s chat “life!”

Why my hip-hop posse would include Gregory Wilson

In a hip-hop or rap artist's posse, there's the usual picks and the "average" choices — many of them aren't likely to do much more than take up space, waste time and money.

Bradtastic craves somethings — in this case, someone — slightly more special.

Gregory Wilson
A confidence man, master pickpocket, mentalist-magician is always handy to have around… manipulate the opposition, steal a rap-rival's bling right off his person and convince him his posse had jacked him.

So much better than bustin'caps.

Bradtastic Thoughts of Change

Things are happening, gotta make some changes. Yesterday, Six Apart and peeps announced the end of Pownce, set to close-up completely on December 15. Their press-release offers one year of free TypePad for all “Pro” Pownce users (I don’t know any), but that’s a solid. Six Apart also asks that the Pownce community moves to Vox to “continue the spirit of Pownce,” whatever that means.

Upcoming changes: I’m going to find a Pownce replacement… I’m not sure what or where, however. I’m most-likely going to change this WordPress style, or use this opportunity to change a lot more than just the Pownce. Heck, I feel like it’s time to make radical changes to Bradtastic and the semi-innovative offshoots that I’ve created over the past few years.

I own some fancy domain names and have had ambitions to create side-projects… a combination of stylized design and illustration, mixed with storytelling, current events, perhaps even a little bit of politics. The goal? To get more people, more young, inspired and passionate people, to care about what’s happening with the world and civilization itself.

There’s something wrong with athletes and Paris Hilton getting more news-coverage than the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our troops get shot at with assault rifles, people don’t seem to care… an NFL RB shoots himself in the thigh with an illegal concealed weapon and it’s breaking news. (It’s pretty funny, but not “important.”)

 

Change is being planned right now. Ready or not, it doesn’t change a thing on my end.

Bradtastic Approved

I’m soon adding a new page to bradtastic.com called “Bradtastic Approved” to explain the significance of me liking something.

Most recently, I’ve had fun playing Epic Games’ Gears of War 2, watching FOX’s Fringe and Netflix. (Click here to join me at Netflix!)

I joined Netflix because of the “new XBOX LIVE Experience,” a UI-upgrade for the 360. Aside from adding little “Wii-like” avatars and a new marketplace interface, is the integration of Netflix “WI,” or “watch instantly.”

Personally, I love “watch instantly.” There’s thousands of movies, stuff I’d seen years ago, pre-DVD releases, and some newer “blockbusters” and major releases. My favorite selections have been the documentaries and History Channel/TV offerings… and I’ve finally seen Helvetica.

Not all of Netflix’s “WI” movies are available on the 360, but with a simple Silverlight download, movies can be streamed to any PC. It’s impressive… and is making me rethink my obsession with iTunes video downloads.

I don’t blog casually enough… often enough. My Bradtastic.com posts are carefully-crafted and as poignant as possible, and it’s become reasonably-difficult for me to feel okay about posting “any ol’ crap” there—aka random events from my daily life. The blog is mostly philosophical thought-pieces… and far away from the topics relationships and social dynamics.

I’m going to figure out how to change this.

There’s some new cool stuff at Bradtastic Tumblr, too… including links to clothing/apparel and lifehack/GTD utilities.

Improve Your Life: Backpack, Highrise and Bradtastic!

I use both Backpack and Highrise… I wouldn’t offer them if I didn’t agree with them. I could actively promote Basecamp as well, but I don’t personally use it. I know it works for a lot of businesses and helps them to be more productive; but I don’t (yet, at least) use its power and I want to personally be able to take a little bit of time to walk people through the services, my reasoning for the tools and how I personally use ‘em.

If you’re wondering “Why the hell would I need these services?!” please just ask me. Strike up a conversation; send me an email, find me on instant messenger, whisper me at Rejaw. If you’re just wondering why you should use my links, well… it could save you some, it’ll be a better use of time, it’ll make your experience better… and it’s an easy way to say “thanks” for showing you a huge game-changing time-saver. I’ll likely make less than a few dollars from it, it won’t cost you anything extra, either.

These tools have changed my life; these services change and improve businesses everyday, 37signals makes products that increase productivity and cost costs dramatically. On top of that, their stuff is fun!

How much time and money are you willing to spend to make your life dramatically better? How much is that worth to you? What if it doesn’t take that much time or cost that much money? Let me show you what I know—you can always change your mind.

Though I May Understand

I setup and give people download links quite-frequently. People benefit from listening to me; I’ll let them talk about it, because enough of them like to talk about it, and I’m good with that. Recently I posted links to a crapload of free HD videos on iTunes, valued at $2.99—some people downloaded the videos, others decided to “wait.” Those videos didn’t stay free, and some lost out.

Me? I have thousands of dollars of free stuff, and thousands more saved because I was at the right place at the right time. Emotion isn’t always a positive.

I’m annoyed when people get emotional during logical/reasonable debates of information and opinion… like… politics. It’s that year. Four years of relative silence and then an election year… right after Olympics, BOOM! The political waves and shitstorm arrives; shitstorms are particularly unpleasant because of the stench and aftermath, and people are lazy about cleaning up the mess. It is as one envisions it… it’s gross.

Things are different now; change is good and bad, more importantly, it “is” and it’s necessary. People are using the Internet in new, cool ways and it’s just a matter of time until the Internet is as open and easy as electricity. Heck, in the future, the Internet will be easier to “have” than mass-wattage. It’s going to change our way of life, and change the world.

How to prepare.

• Make a Gmail account, register with all of Google’s services. Google will be (is) its own nation one day.
• Create an account (like these) at Twitter. And Tumblr. If you have ‘em, good job. Add me, why don’tcha?
• Create an account at Pownce and Ping.fm, then make accounts at all relevant listed “others.” Own your handle/s. Here’s my Pownce’n'list.
• Order a pizza and sushi. I like tobbiko and tekka maki. Heck, order me some, too, how ’bout it?!
• Make your life and business lightweight and agile. Use the Internet. Contact me about it.

I help my friends get things like HighriseHQ and BackpackIT because both have helped me and many, many (nigh-countless… seriously, it’d take a while for me calculate sum, and we’re talkin’ more than fingers’n'toes) friends and fellows. My enemies probably benefit from this stuff, too. If your enemies are bright, sophisticated or ninja-like (are you? If you are, they are), they use this stuff, too.

The world is changing fast. URLs are the “Main Street” office addresses, social networking is the new business card. Fighting this is silly—especially when it’s not hard to take advantage of thechanges and come out on top. I’m helping people make life better; when my competition figures out exactly how (beyond the freebies), I’ll be steps-ahead again.

Good luck.

Brad’s been where, done-what?

Life gets hectic… every four years we have an Olympic Games and an election. The world looks at America, probably thinking, “what an insane-crazy shit-pile of mediocrity!” Ouch, right?

I’ve been following the political whirlwind; it’s hard to look away with the mass-marketing and fireworks—it’s definitely the new football. I try to stay atop local news, and I’ve taken a deep interest into military history, technology and the present overseas conflicts. On the home front, I’m concerned about education, the housing market, the economy (holistically) and our American system of justice, punishment and correction. There isn’t much correction… that’s how shit is.

Life mostly sucks much of the time; but sometimes, great stuff happens—great enough to forget about and let-go the daily crap we go through. Suicide is a sin to some, inconvenient for others; the funniest, saddest “excuse” I’d heard some time ago: “I’m too lazy to kill myself right now. Maybe later… I mean life really sucks, and that’s why I’m bored and have nothing to do.”

I try not to let it get to me. I jump on XBOX LIVE; recently downloaded Geometry Wars 2 and Castle Crashers, got Soul Calibur 4 and thanks to Andrew, the Arcade Stick as well. I picked up a red controller and Ninja Gaiden II—I’m loving Itagaki’s futuristic-semi-historical ninja blood-storm. More on that. I also wrote about my NGII gaming at my Gamespot-blogospace. If you’re at Gamespot, drop a friend invite there!

I’ve posted a lot of cool images and eye-candy at my Tumblr; it’s so quick-n-easy, I think you should check it out! I have DISQUS commenting there as well; if you see something that you like, l’emme know, yea? Perhaps we can discourse!

I’ve been writing a lot; thinking about whether or not to release more of it online, and if I’m going to do that, where I’m going to put it… the kind of complication I’d like to have more of. I have a ton of new inkwork; you’ll make me happy if you ask to see it when we’re hanging out, if you like it, perhaps I’ll fall in love. This new work means a lot to me—I’m not sure I want to image it online! Perhaps I’ll make a special Gallery for my Moleskine Inkbook.

My iPhone has been incredibly stable. I’ve posted a few screenshots at bradtastic.tumblr.com and going there means that you can see which applications are some of my favorites! I might post at Bradtastic.com again soon… life must continue, momentum helps.