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1. I love to sing, like in choirs and quartets.  I sing pretty high too, I’m a tenor.  And, in fact, I can sing higher than my wife who sings alto.  Some say I’m a freak, I say it’s a blessing.
2. I can crack nearly every joint in my body.  Neck, back (upper and lower), fingers, toes, knees, elbows, wrist (yup!), ankles.  Except the shoulders – haven’t figured that one out yet.
3. There are photos of me dressed up as a woman in a robe, with makeup on.  I pray they haven’t hit the interwebz yet.
4. Remember the girl from SNL who liked to scratch and sniff her armpits?  I do that with my ears.  Ugh, should have kept that one to myself huh?
5. I once buffed my nails with a huge metal file in my high school shop class because I was bored.  Overkill much.
6. I started balding at 19.
7. When I first came to Canada, the kids used to tease me because I didn’t think there was anything wrong with picking my nose in public.
8. I started school when I was 2.  And was reading at 3.  I read encyclopedias for fun.
9. I sweat very easily.
10. I cried the first time I experienced freezing rain.  I was 9.
11. I LOVE going on roller coasters, the more twisted and sadistic the better.  But I’ll never do bungee jumping, skydiving, or any of that other crazy stuff.
12. I believe there’s nothing I can’t do with preparation and training.
13. Like Spidra, I can wiggle my ears and flare my nostrils at will.
14. Bugs creep me out.  Like make-me-scream type creepy.
15. I’ve had 5 teeth pulled, but still have my wisdom teeth.
16. I love going out at night.  Especially to explore.
17. I don’t like horror movies because the images stick in my head.  That’s what I get for watching Carrie when I was 6. (The hand sticking out of the ground haunts me to this day).
18. I LOVE LOVE LOVE road trips.  Our last two trips to Myrtle Beach, I’ve driven the whole way, and back (24 hrs).
19. My left eye is lighter than my right.
20. If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’ll usually end up doing it just to prove them wrong, no matter how long it takes.
21. I have a mole on my tummy.
22. I’ve shaved my chest twice, and Seinfeld was right – the itch of it growing back is horrific.
23. The one superpower I want is to be able to clear up bad breath from anyone around me.
24. I do not trim my eyebrows.
25. I LOVE thunderstorms.
26. I never thought I could find 25 semi-interesting things about myself, I’m surprised I got this done.

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But before the iPod fanboys and fangirls and Microsoft haters start getting on my case, keep in mind that these are my preferences, you aren’t going convince me to go get an iPod, k?

So here are my top reasons why. 

1. Wireless sync
2. The Zune software is way better (in my opinion) than iTunes or Windows Media Player
3. The value is great for the features you get
4. It’s really easy to use and I have no issues with the types of files I sync
5. It can store music, videos, photos, and now games
6. I also think Zune Social is pretty cool

So fellow Zune lovers, what else do you love about your Zune?

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In accordance with Blog Day 2008, here are 5 blogs I’m reading that I recommend you read as well:

One Little Cog
Blog of Ehren Cheung, web marketing & data coordinator at the Dundurn Group.

Shannon Whitley
Blog of developer/systems admin, Shannon Whitley.

Pulse and Signal
Commentary on the impact and potential usefulness, of technology (social media, consumer/emerging web tech) on health communication and social marketing.

Rick Mahn
Exploration of social media & web 2.0’s strengths and failings.

Jeffrey Simms Photography
Blog of photographer, Jeffrey Simms.

And for good measure, be sure to subscribe to one more…mine

introspective snapshots

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It’s a head-to-head league with 10 teams, with 8 showing up for the Live Draft.

Here’s my starting roster:

QB Tony Romo (Dal – QB)
WR Wes Welker (NE – WR)
WR Bernard Berrian (Min – WR)
RB LaDainian Tomlinson (SD – RB)
RB Jamal Lewis (Cle – RB)
TE Kellen Winslow (SD – RB)
W/T Jerricho Cotchery (NYJ – WR)
W/R Thomas Jones (NYJ – RB)
K Adam Vinatieri (Ind – WR)
D Terrence McGee (Buf – DB)
DB Nate Clements (SF – DB)
DB Leigh Bodden (Det – DB)
DL James Harrison (Pit – DL)
DL E.J. Henderson (Min – DL)

On the bench:

Donald Driver (GB – WR)
Brett Favre (NYJ – QB)
Chester Taylor (Min – RB)
Joey Galloway (TB – WR)
Jon Kitna (Det – QB)
Devin Hester (Chi – WR)

And here’s my draft order (in brackets is the overall pick #):

1. (2) LaDainian Tomlinson
2. (19) Jamal Lewis
3. (22) Tony Romo
4. (39) Thomas Jones
5. (42) Wes Welker
6. (59) Kellen Winslow
7. (62) Bernard Berrian
8. (79) Jerricho Cotchery
9. (82) Adam Vinatieri
10. (99) Terrence McGee
11. (102) Donald Driver
12. (119) James Harrison
13. (122) Nate Clements
14. (139) Brett Favre
15. (142) Will Witherspoon
16. (159) Chester Taylor
17. (162) Leigh Bodden
18. (179) Joey Galloway
19. (182) Jon Kitna
20. (199) E.J. Henderson
21. (202) Ernie Sims
22. (219) Devin Hester
23. (222) Mason Crosby

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http://www.seesmic.com/shey

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I’m the type of guy that will break his back on a challenge just to prove you wrong.

I’m the type of guy that openly welcomes hate and malice in order to use it as motivation.

I’m the type of guy that has an ever-burning passion; it comes out with the way I speak, in the way I write, and in the way I live my life.

I’m the type of guy that is only intimidated by himself.

I’m the type of guy that can be a tough friend, but a favourable enemy.

I’m the type of guy that lives by ruthless compassion and empathetic correction.

I’m the type of guy that forgives but doesn’t always forget.

I’m the type of guy that believes in unlimited possibilities.

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Online Racism (in case you missed it somehow)

Corvida
I Requested That Verizon Drop Their Deal With 1938media | FriendFeed

Hank Williams
Verizon Dumps Loren "Tech Nigga" Feldman. Blogosphere Crys Foul | FriendFeed

Louis Gray
Seeing The Web’s Racist Underbelly Is Saddening and Shocking | FriendFeed

What’s New With Me? (going back 4 weeks)

• 4+ years of turmoil are over! I graduated with my B.Comm in IT Management and my wife also graduated, but with 2 degrees — A Bachelor of Education and a BA in Sociology!
• What do you know, camping wasn’t so bad.  We had a great time despite the thunderstorms that brought lightning, thunder, and heavy rains.  We even decided to try it again next year!

What’s New With the Blog?

I’ve been making a few changes and updates to introspective snapshots.

• Upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1
• Added my FriendFeed lifestream
• Enabled full RSS feeds
• Minor CSS changes to FriendFeed Comments widget and sidebar for easier reading
• Added Disqus trackbacks and widget (neither are fully functional)
• Added Feedburner FeedCount

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Get yours at http://wordle.net/create

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Loren wasn’t making fun of black people.

Loren was making fun of bloggers.

Wrong. That’s just one video — what about "Black People Can’t Get It Together" and "Black People Are Lame"? Reverse racism? Don’t even get me started on that. Put the pieces of the puzzle together.

So yeah, he could have picked on anyone — but he didn’t — he picked on a race of people that have had a troublesome history with racism in North America. And everyone is aware of that history, at least to a superficial extent. Here is where the “political correctness” whining should fall apart. Chances are, you are not a minority and have no idea of what racism feels like. If you did; you realize there’s a difference between saying something mean, saying something controversial, and participating in bigotry. Not only is he mocking Black folks with a horrible stereotype — he uses a historically derogatory label — and please don’t counter back with the "Well Black people use the N-word all the time" argument. Please.

If he’s so creative, so intelligent, so awesome — why couldn’t he have found a less idiotic way to bring his point across? I’ll tell you why: there’s no talent in being offensive. There’s no talent in gaining fame at the expense of others. There’s no talent in pretending and saying that you’re all that and not backing it up. I’m sure he’s got a talent somewhere — but it isn’t in being awesome and it isn’t his breed of creativity — it’s just in being a fool. It’s easy to be an idiot and to get publicity by offending someone; he’s proven that more than once. Why are you standing up for him again?

Up until his gig got cancelled I’ll bet he loved all this attention — yeah I get why he did it. Easy fame — no such thing as bad publicity, right? Except karma came back to bite him.  Deep down, it upsets you Loren, probably as much as you upset me.

So why do some still defend this guy? I don’t know, I can’t say for sure. Yeah he has the right to say whatever he wants — but when you defend the actions of someone who’s being an idiot, what does that say about you?

Here are some quotes I’ve run into regarding the situation:

I hadn’t seen the Tech Nigga video until today, and I must say…it was pure genius. Truly I wish there were a series of them. It’s sad that everyone’s taking it so poorly

People should be JUMPING to defend Loren. They don’t agree with him today, they won’t agree with you tomorrow. Then what?

@1938media What’s every tech nigga got with you? They’re so cray about the hole thing.

These are the thanks you get when you try to bring edgy, new media content to companies like CNet and Verizon

I am so sick and tired of all the Political Correctness bs in this country. It makes me sick that Verizon would cave to a bunch of people with too much time on their hands and no jobs over a video from a year ago.

Oh and you gotta watch this: Can you appreciate the irony? (WARNING: Foul language)

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FriendFeed Discussion Stats

FriendFeed Like Compatibility

Calculated based on shared likes

FriendFeed Top Sites

FriendFeed Interesting People

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I learned the how powerful social media is; how 4 people can start an idea and have hundreds of folk propagate and discuss it.

I learned that I still have a backbone.  I’m still willing to stand up for something I believe in, despite name-calling and ridicule .

I learned that it’s human nature to assume first and get details later, if at all — hence the misconceptions of what Twit-Out actually was.

I learned that folks whine and complain against those who they accuse of whining and complaining and defend their need to whine and complain.

My greatest lesson learned is that I don’t need Twitter.  I have a million different ways to spend my time and 999,000 of them can be off the computer, involving a loving wife and other real people.

Overall, this was great and don’t regret a thing!  That being said, I’m happy to put Twit-Out behind me and look forward to seeing how Twitter works out (or not) in the future. 

Results

Dare I say Twit-Out was a success?  It was never about how many people actually participated. Twit-Out has produced the exchange of many ideas and alternative thoughts to the Twitter situation including Twitter Love Day and the Twitter Pizza Fund, which have each spurned additional discussions. 

Here are some of the FriendFeed discussions that came out of Twit-Out.

If you’re wondering about the reach of Twit-Out or want to see more discussions, check out the following searches:

Summize

Google

FriendFeed

Feel free to post your comments on Twit-Out (I missed all your tweets)

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1. Jamaicans know no fear.

We don’t care if you’re a rabid raccoon, hungry grizzly bear or mountain lion, we’ll take you on. We thump first, ask questions later. We also don’t know anything about North American forests; we don’t really know what poison ivy is and don’t think anything could be worse than getting juk by macka.

So if you don’t want to waste your time taking us to the hospital or worse, reconsider that Algonquin Park invitation.

2. No matter where we are, we WILL try and cook something.

Look, we don’t like other people’s food. Where ever we go we must cook up our fried dumplings, boiled green bananas, and rice & peas. Of course, this makes the camp more likely to:

1. Burn down if we forget to put out the fire
2. Attract all kinds of animals looking for food
3. Which leads to point #1

3. We only know Jamaica survival skills.

We know how to start a fire (so we can cook), but if you get bitten by a rattlesnake or any other animal — you’re pretty much done for. Without our Jamaican bush, we’re worthless, and may end up doing more harm than good, like rubbing poison ivy in your open wound. Don’t ask us which berries or mushrooms look non-poisonous or which star is the North Star; we don’t know. If I tell you that I know, don’t believe me, I’m probably lying.

There you have it. For all who are going camping with me in July and are reading this, now you know what you’re in for. But hey, don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll all have a great time. Right?

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Pardon me as I’m going to be talking about myself a lot, something I try not to do in my posts. I hope that my abbreviated story can help either by being an inspiration to others heading down the same path or a deterrent to those who have an opportunity to prevent mistakes.

Lost

Coming out of high school, I never really had a plan for life. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career (even though I thought I did), I was lost emotionally, spiritually, and totally misguided. I thought “Hey Engineering sounds cool, I can make a chunk of change”. I my favourite subject at the time was Chemistry, I used to be able to fill in the entire periodic table, with atomic numbers and abbreviations. Now, not so much. So I, thinking I was smart, put two and two together and went into Ryerson’s 5-year Chemical Engineering program. Long story short, that didn’t work out — I hated it. It was all math, no interesting Chemistry = me dropping out after 2 years. Back at square one. To this day, I don’t regret it. I could not imagine myself in a career that I had no passion for.

To cut to the chase, I did some soul-searching, decided to re-dedicate my life to God, and really work on being a better person. I re-examined my priorities and what I wanted to accomplish in life and where my passions lay. I wanted to get married, have kids, be well off enough to be charitable and philanthropic, live a fulfilling life — I wanted it all and still do. So I came up with a list of goals I wanted to achieve in my 5-year plan, some of those things I mentioned before above like getting married and getting my degree were in there, others I knew where going to take longer. I didn’t want to be another statistic, another 1 of the majority of Black students in my high school graduating class that didn’t go to university. I know just getting an undergraduate degree might not be a big deal to some, but it was to me, so I’m telling my story.

Found

Knowing I had to get my life back on track, I made the decision to enter the workforce full-time during the day and get my degree part-time at night.

Why?

• Wasn’t interested in taking anymore student loans.
• Needed a job (thought that if I was going to get married soon, I’d need a job).
• I recognized work experience as a valuable asset.
• I didn’t want to be forced to lease a laptop from Ryerson for four years that I wouldn’t even get to keep at the end.

It has been a rocky road, landing in crappy jobs, including getting screwed over by some. (If you want more details, contact me before you contact them.)

Nevertheless, I didn’t let anything hold me back. In 2006, I got married to the one I knew was always for me. And last year I thankfully took the opportunity to even start my own freelance web design business. Many of my goals were achieved, while some weren’t; hopefully this 5-year plan will be even more successful.

Here are the key lessons I learned (some I probably didn’t talk about directly):

1. Set measurable goals, then make a step-by-step plan on how to achieve those goals.
2. Get informed about career choices and don’t just go to a guidance counsellor, do your own research.
3. It’s ok to change directions — plans can change, unforeseen obstacles pop up, its ok to adjust accordingly and re-evaluate goals.
4. Find what you’re passionate about and do it — but if you can’t make any money off it, keep it as a hobby.
5. Sacrifices may have to be made to achieve what you want — give up something in the present for a greater reward in the future.

What’s Next?

One thing I can say for sure, I definitely won’t stop learning. Whether it be formally or informally, I’ll always be soaking up knowledge somewhere somehow. I want to get an MBA or some kind of Masters degree but at the moment I’m so sick of school — will wait till next year to decide. I’m hoping by then more distance education MBAs will be available, some are naysayers when it comes to that sort of thing, but I’m open to the idea, I can’t say I have the will to do it any other way.

Either way, it has to fit in with our plans for the future.

All I know for sure is that when I finish that exam on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 9:00pm, it will have all been worth it.

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You’re looking at the first of many posts to come on my new blog. After many re-designs, re-organization, and re-thinking of how to put this together, I finally decided to just do it and get it over with. Design-wise, let me know what you like and what you don’t like.

Me and Blogging

This isn’t my first blogging attempt, I started one for my wedding planning 2 or 3 years ago (now defunct), which was a ton of fun.

It’s too bad I didn’t know about WordPress then — ended up doing it in Nucleus, which at the time, was pretty convoluted. Turns it couldn’t handle the web server upgrade to PHP5. Anyway, I digress. The thought of blogging again is kinda scary — What if my content sucks? What if I don’t have the time to post? What if I get myself in trouble somehow?

Personally, those are crappy excuses — I plan on tackling the issues as they come up, kinda like my plan for blog topics – discussing ideas/events as they happen.

What are your tips for this startup “blogger”? Where do you get ideas for posts and how much do you mix things up?

P.S.: Let me know if I’ve left out any useful blog features/functionality or if there’s something you’d like me to add.

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