Everybody has 24 hours in each day, yet not everyone uses that time wisely. There are the requisite work hours that most adults have to endure with seemingly little time left over. This week at work I have even felt like I could have done a better job of using that time better. When I recognize it, I can generally correct it quickly and today I found myself a much better steward of my time.
Computers and technology are supposed to help us and make things easier. Back in the 1970's, the microwave revolutionized cooking as it allowed us to dramatically reduce the time required to heat food. The personal computer in the 1980's provided a platform that sparked such applications as the spreadsheet and word processor that streamlined financial calculations and document creation. Then in the 1990's, the Internet came along and gave us a limitless amount of access to information. Any time someone has a question, it is a matter of typing a few words into a search engine and the answer instantly appears.
So with all of these technologies that allow us to reduce the time it takes to do certain tasks, are we better off than 30 years ago? While I can quickly get the answer to who won the 1980 World Series (Philadelphia Phillies), does that help me in my daily life? Sometimes it allows us more leisure time but more often than not, it just means that more is expected. We also have the problem that all this technology now creates distractions. You can spend hours wasting time doing things like watching YouTube videos or looking at stupid pictures of cats.
As you find yourself with all of these modern conveniences, be mindful of your time. Are you using technology to create a better life for yourself or are you just wasting away the hours?
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
Love and Hate Amazon
Yesterday I had an uneventful flight back to Los Angeles from Tokyo. My flight to Salt Lake got delayed an hour and change but I have come to expect that. I have started using my travel time to read and had my latest book read before the plane even left the ground at Hanada airport. When I finally arrived back in Salt Lake, one of my first tasks included finding more books to read.
I used to love Amazon as a bookstore. When my local bookstore didn't have a book, I could find it on the Internet and have it shipped to my house. Unfortunately a lot of people felt the same way and it didn't take long for a large number of bookstores to go out of business. Now it seems that there is only one large bookstore still around: Barnes and Noble. I will be flying again on Tuesday and don't have time to wait for an Amazon book to arrive.
I went to my closest Barnes and Noble only to find that I already owned every book they had that I am interested in reading. I have been there recently and already picked them clean. I did a quick Internet search to look for other bookstores in the area. It seems that the only other bookstores to survive Amazon's success are religious ones. While I do appreciate religion and have a large percentage of my bookshelf space devoted to those types of books, that is not what I wanted to look for last night. So I drove to the next closest Barnes and Noble. Fortunately they had a number of books of interest not currently in my personal library.
Amazon is a great place to purchase books and a lot of other things. However if you are just browsing for a book or need it immediately, I highly recommend visiting a local bookstore. Right now I am reading a lot of sailing and climbing books. While Amazon does a great job of providing a preview of the book online, it just doesn't compare to being able to leaf through the book to help you decide if it is the right one for you.
I used to love Amazon as a bookstore. When my local bookstore didn't have a book, I could find it on the Internet and have it shipped to my house. Unfortunately a lot of people felt the same way and it didn't take long for a large number of bookstores to go out of business. Now it seems that there is only one large bookstore still around: Barnes and Noble. I will be flying again on Tuesday and don't have time to wait for an Amazon book to arrive.
I went to my closest Barnes and Noble only to find that I already owned every book they had that I am interested in reading. I have been there recently and already picked them clean. I did a quick Internet search to look for other bookstores in the area. It seems that the only other bookstores to survive Amazon's success are religious ones. While I do appreciate religion and have a large percentage of my bookshelf space devoted to those types of books, that is not what I wanted to look for last night. So I drove to the next closest Barnes and Noble. Fortunately they had a number of books of interest not currently in my personal library.
Amazon is a great place to purchase books and a lot of other things. However if you are just browsing for a book or need it immediately, I highly recommend visiting a local bookstore. Right now I am reading a lot of sailing and climbing books. While Amazon does a great job of providing a preview of the book online, it just doesn't compare to being able to leaf through the book to help you decide if it is the right one for you.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Going Viral
One thing about long plane rides to Tokyo is that I get a lot of time to read. During this trip I read an interesting article about how "going viral on the Internet" is really just a myth. The article stated that popularity on the Internet is not about a lot of one-to-one shares of information but instead come from large corporations or celebrities. For the most part I have to agree with the article but then decided to do a little research.
First I plugged the title of the article into my favorite search engine and got several hits. Unfortunately you can't look at the article as it came from a print magazine and the only way to get to the article is to have a paid subscription. That doesn't help for links in blogs and so I won't reference it. The 3rd hit pointed out that the author of the article I read just released a book and while I thought the article was actual news, it turns out to be an ad for this book. I wondered how a print magazine with so few advertisements could remain in circulation. Now I know, a lot of the articles are really just advertisements. So much for journalistic integrity and trusted editors. For the record, that magazine just went in the garbage and I won't be reading it again.
Looking at my own blog and the traffic it receives, I have to agree with the article that "Going Viral" is a myth. I have kept at this since 2009 with 71 posts per year and only get about 10 or so readers per posting. Factor in the search engines that stumble across my pages and one is tempted to believe that nobody really reads anything I write. However there is one exception: my Photoshop-clone article. That one article from 2009 has hundreds of page views. No, I wouldn't consider it to have "Gone Viral" but it does help prove the point that in order for something to go viral, it has to be worth viewing.
I have a fairly recent post that surprised me by its popularity: a video game review of Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. For some reason, this review has become my most popular. I don't think I did a particularly better job of reviewing the game compared to other games. Instead I think the content set it apart. Perhaps the impending release of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has a few people wondering if they should go back and play the 2nd game before starting the 3rd.
Personally I believe that "Going Viral" is a real phenomenon, it is just rare. Sort of like being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. The content has to be worth viewing, you have to sell it to everyone, and you need a bit of luck.
First I plugged the title of the article into my favorite search engine and got several hits. Unfortunately you can't look at the article as it came from a print magazine and the only way to get to the article is to have a paid subscription. That doesn't help for links in blogs and so I won't reference it. The 3rd hit pointed out that the author of the article I read just released a book and while I thought the article was actual news, it turns out to be an ad for this book. I wondered how a print magazine with so few advertisements could remain in circulation. Now I know, a lot of the articles are really just advertisements. So much for journalistic integrity and trusted editors. For the record, that magazine just went in the garbage and I won't be reading it again.
Looking at my own blog and the traffic it receives, I have to agree with the article that "Going Viral" is a myth. I have kept at this since 2009 with 71 posts per year and only get about 10 or so readers per posting. Factor in the search engines that stumble across my pages and one is tempted to believe that nobody really reads anything I write. However there is one exception: my Photoshop-clone article. That one article from 2009 has hundreds of page views. No, I wouldn't consider it to have "Gone Viral" but it does help prove the point that in order for something to go viral, it has to be worth viewing.
I have a fairly recent post that surprised me by its popularity: a video game review of Sniper Ghost Warrior 2. For some reason, this review has become my most popular. I don't think I did a particularly better job of reviewing the game compared to other games. Instead I think the content set it apart. Perhaps the impending release of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 has a few people wondering if they should go back and play the 2nd game before starting the 3rd.
Personally I believe that "Going Viral" is a real phenomenon, it is just rare. Sort of like being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. The content has to be worth viewing, you have to sell it to everyone, and you need a bit of luck.
Monday, February 13, 2017
One More Trip to Japan
I am currently in Japan and every time I come here I have to ask myself if this is my last trip to this wonderful country. For the past few years I have been working on a project that is based here. Now that project is coming to a close and I find myself moving to a new one. My new project has ties to Japan but not as strongly as my previous one.
When you know you will be back to a foreign country you don't worry about how much money to exchange as you will use it on a future trip. Japan further complicates things by relying heavily on stored-value cards. If I don't think I will be back, then I need to spend all of my Japanese yen as well as bring my stored-value cards down to zero. That requires careful planning as I have a pocket full of cash and 2 different cards with a significant amount on each. It would be much easier to assume that I will just be back.
When you know you will be back to a foreign country you don't worry about how much money to exchange as you will use it on a future trip. Japan further complicates things by relying heavily on stored-value cards. If I don't think I will be back, then I need to spend all of my Japanese yen as well as bring my stored-value cards down to zero. That requires careful planning as I have a pocket full of cash and 2 different cards with a significant amount on each. It would be much easier to assume that I will just be back.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Medical Robots
I got home from skiing today and found my son watching "The Empire Strikes Back." I love the Star Wars movies and so I joined in for some of the viewing. If you look at all of the movies, they are really the stories of the 2 robots: R2D2 and C3PO. Science fiction always has a use for robots but the only ones we have today are for building things, exploring other planets, or vacuuming our homes.
Yesterday I had to go to the doctor to renew a prescription. I used to never visit the doctor. Now I go quite frequently and know him well. He knows that I live in Utah and work in the Bay Area. He knows I am headed to Japan tomorrow. I know that last month he took his 3 daughters to Europe. My visit with the doctor lasted a good 20 minutes but most of the time we just talked about families and trips. I didn't mind the visit but afterwards I realized that I could have saved myself a lot of time if I could have replaced my doctor with a medical robot.
Don't get me wrong, Doctors play an important part in helping to diagnose illness and help us remain healthy. I just know that healthcare costs continue to rise and nothing our government is doing will keep that from happening. I suggest we give scientists at NASA a larger budget and have them build medial robots like the one that fixed up Luke Skywalker after his unfortunate interaction with the abominable snowman on the ice planet Hoth. When I look at all of my doctor visits over the past 3 years, only one of them really needed a physical doctor. The rest could have been to visit a robot. Most of the time when I go in, the doctor checks me over and then sends me to the medical lab next door to give a few vials of blood. Then I get a call from him the next week and he adjusts the quantity of a medication. For my visit yesterday, I just needed a prescription refill and my recent blood work from December eliminated the need to test my blood. A robot could have taken care of that for me.
Yesterday I had to go to the doctor to renew a prescription. I used to never visit the doctor. Now I go quite frequently and know him well. He knows that I live in Utah and work in the Bay Area. He knows I am headed to Japan tomorrow. I know that last month he took his 3 daughters to Europe. My visit with the doctor lasted a good 20 minutes but most of the time we just talked about families and trips. I didn't mind the visit but afterwards I realized that I could have saved myself a lot of time if I could have replaced my doctor with a medical robot.
Don't get me wrong, Doctors play an important part in helping to diagnose illness and help us remain healthy. I just know that healthcare costs continue to rise and nothing our government is doing will keep that from happening. I suggest we give scientists at NASA a larger budget and have them build medial robots like the one that fixed up Luke Skywalker after his unfortunate interaction with the abominable snowman on the ice planet Hoth. When I look at all of my doctor visits over the past 3 years, only one of them really needed a physical doctor. The rest could have been to visit a robot. Most of the time when I go in, the doctor checks me over and then sends me to the medical lab next door to give a few vials of blood. Then I get a call from him the next week and he adjusts the quantity of a medication. For my visit yesterday, I just needed a prescription refill and my recent blood work from December eliminated the need to test my blood. A robot could have taken care of that for me.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Video Game Review: God of War 3 Remastered
Last week I finally finished God of War 3 Remastered on the PS4. The game began life on the PlayStation 3 as a continuation in the God of War games. I played both God of War and God of War 2 on my PS3 this summer and found them to be very entertaining. As the original 2 games were developed for the PS2 and later remastered for the PS3, I found it fitting that I played the 3rd volume as a remaster as well.
As I have stated before, I have spent time in the offices of Santa Monica Studios and while I don't work for the studio, I want to make sure that I disclose that I do have friends that work there and occasionally visit them. However I still try to remain as objective as possible in my video game reviews.
God of War 3 is a continuation of the first 2 games and the game play is very similar. The 3rd title does contain a bit more refinement and the graphics on the PS4 are just amazing. You continue to fight against the Gods of Olympus and sometimes enlist the help of the titans while other times fighting against them. There are a few new weapons to master and a bunch of new puzzles to solve.
Several of my gaming co-workers told me to avoid playing the same video game franchise one after another. That is great advice. I'm not sure I would have found the game nearly as enjoyable if I jumped from 1 to 2 and then to 3. By throwing other games into the mix, I found it to be a lot of fun going back to the series. Now I am excited to play the upcoming God of War 4.
God of War 3 is rated M for mature and it deserves this rating. While there isn't any strong language, there is some nudity and a lot of graphic violence. The nudity is along the same lines as that found in the first 2 games but not encountered until much later in the game. As for the violence, you run around beating people, sometimes ripping them apart. I wouldn't recommend eating while playing the game. I also wouldn't recommend the game for anyone under the age of 18. This is not a kids' game.
God of War 3 Remastered has been out for a while now and you can purchase it for around $20. It took me about 12 hours of play time to get through the game and so that works out to be a great value. While the previous 2 games are of a similar length, I felt like I got through it very quickly.
As I have stated before, I have spent time in the offices of Santa Monica Studios and while I don't work for the studio, I want to make sure that I disclose that I do have friends that work there and occasionally visit them. However I still try to remain as objective as possible in my video game reviews.
God of War 3 is a continuation of the first 2 games and the game play is very similar. The 3rd title does contain a bit more refinement and the graphics on the PS4 are just amazing. You continue to fight against the Gods of Olympus and sometimes enlist the help of the titans while other times fighting against them. There are a few new weapons to master and a bunch of new puzzles to solve.
Several of my gaming co-workers told me to avoid playing the same video game franchise one after another. That is great advice. I'm not sure I would have found the game nearly as enjoyable if I jumped from 1 to 2 and then to 3. By throwing other games into the mix, I found it to be a lot of fun going back to the series. Now I am excited to play the upcoming God of War 4.
God of War 3 is rated M for mature and it deserves this rating. While there isn't any strong language, there is some nudity and a lot of graphic violence. The nudity is along the same lines as that found in the first 2 games but not encountered until much later in the game. As for the violence, you run around beating people, sometimes ripping them apart. I wouldn't recommend eating while playing the game. I also wouldn't recommend the game for anyone under the age of 18. This is not a kids' game.
God of War 3 Remastered has been out for a while now and you can purchase it for around $20. It took me about 12 hours of play time to get through the game and so that works out to be a great value. While the previous 2 games are of a similar length, I felt like I got through it very quickly.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
A Man with One Clock
I am at the San Francisco airport waiting to catch my flight back to Salt Lake and thought my flight might actually leave on time. Why? I checked the monitor and it said my flight is on time. Then I logged into my e-mail and it told me my flight is delayed by 2 hours! I have a computer and am too lazy to go back and check the flight monitor again and so I logged onto the airline website and asked for a flight status. It says my flight is only 45 minutes delayed. So what is the correct answer? This reminds me of an old saying: "A man with one clock knows what time it is, a man with two isn't quite sure." In my case, I have 3 and none of them agree.
One of the problems with keeping travelers up-to-date with the latest information is that it is often wrong. An airline may see a delay about to happen and so they notify passengers. Then a pilot will work a miracle and arrive sooner than expected. The seemingly 2-hour delay gets shortened to 45 minutes.
A quick check of my e-mail between paragraphs and I have received a message indicating that my flight is now only 45-minutes delayed. I have 2 sources of information that agree. It will probably change again before I actually board the flight and so I don't put much stock into my departure time until it actually happens. Fortunately I have a really good book to read and don't mind hanging out at the airport too much. I would like to get in at a reasonable hour but a delay is not heartbreaking.
One of the problems with keeping travelers up-to-date with the latest information is that it is often wrong. An airline may see a delay about to happen and so they notify passengers. Then a pilot will work a miracle and arrive sooner than expected. The seemingly 2-hour delay gets shortened to 45 minutes.
A quick check of my e-mail between paragraphs and I have received a message indicating that my flight is now only 45-minutes delayed. I have 2 sources of information that agree. It will probably change again before I actually board the flight and so I don't put much stock into my departure time until it actually happens. Fortunately I have a really good book to read and don't mind hanging out at the airport too much. I would like to get in at a reasonable hour but a delay is not heartbreaking.
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