The world looks flat from where I'm sitting

Been a while and I know it has. Well, I could go on to say that I just had so much going on in my life but to be completely honest I really haven't. Sure things have been happening but nothing that should have kept me from posting a blog beyond basic laziness.

In fact I did start to write one a while back but then hit the back page button on my mouse, screamed, "Nooooooooooooooo" and then gave up and started playing a game. That seems to have happened more than once lately. I lost about 6 hours of book work a few weeks ago because Windows Update decided it need to restart the computer while I was away from the desk talking on the phone. Yes that was a bit out of my control but I should have saved my work instead of just keeping open office running.

The thing is that I have been writing a lot in my head. This is usually a sign of a change that is coming or that I'm spending way too much time on my own. It could be that I have been reading a couple of different books and it's has stirred the creative pot a bit. I'm unclear what the reason is.

I find myself in one of those quick moving holding patterns where routine rules the day but a lot seems to be happening. It's just not extremes and there isn't that driving passion. I find myself without a cause or a project and that is, well a bit disheartening cause there really isn't an enjoyable challenge. Don't get me wrong there is a lot I should be doing or could be doing but the obsessions aren't driving me down a new path. The indecision is in it's own naturally sweetened way, exciting.

Yes we all fear the unknown but we also crave it. Otherwise we wouldn't bother exposing ourselves to the possibility of disappointment. Which is usually what I fear the most. This year has been a couple of mile markers for me. As of March I have been piercing 15 years, in April I turned 40 and I realized that I've been in the punk scene for over 25 years now. That's a lot to claim and I could puff up my chest and claim a few other things but I don't really sense that it's been that long. Maybe cause I don't wear my age in a visual way and it never really mattered to me cause I always felt that I was late to the party and had to make up for it by staying late.

The writing bug has had me frozen in a lot of in-dept reflection. The aches and pains of aging parts has made me consider my health a bit and make plans for improvement but for the most part I can't help but admit I miss everything and everyone. And above all to feel blessed. With Hercules like strength and ethic I've seemed to manage to create a life where, even with it's short comings, I can't help but feel that I'm where I should be. Don't get me wrong there is always more that I would love to experience or consume but for the most part other than the lack of a new challenge I'm rather roundly content.

Recently, as in almost 10 weeks ago, I quit smoking. This has effected my social life in ways I hadn't suspected and in a lot of ways I'm not too unhappy about. It however, has created a situation where I'm less like to take a pause from whatever distraction I'm involved with at the time. This can be unhealthy and rash. The thought and mind set that I usually employ with creating is to step back and have a cigarette and think it through. Now without the uses of the cigarette, I have taken note that I need some other hobby or activity to replace this. As of right now, I'm not sure what that is. It's kind of like when you eat alone. Without the need to pause to speak with your dining companion, you tend to just shovel the food in until it is all gone. This can in most cases be messy and unhealthy. So I'm trying to just stop, set down the fork and take a sip of tea more often.

One thing that I've rediscovered lately is my love for tech. It was always there and I have always been a gadget whore but my tech libido from time to time has been waning. Then along comes some sexy gadget and she sways back and forth across my imagination and before long I'm obsessed and can think of nothing else. I was talking to a friend about this the other day. If I could find a woman that could hold my interest the same way a new piece of tech can, I wouldn't be single.

Well, the one little lady that caught my eye and my imagination recently is the Palm Pre. You see there is the device and there is the idea that fuels the device. With the Pre it is the ideas behind it that really attracted me to it. Our romance started with the Pre demo video and grew from there. The first thing that made sparks fly was the fact that here is a phone that truly has an UI of a computer. I had played around with a few iPhones and the thing that always bugged me was the fact that like all Apple products, you could only do one thing at a time. Sure you can play music and surf the web or check your e-mail but you couldn't keep 2 or 3 apps open and go back and forth. To me for a smart phone to be like a small computer and take over many of the functions that I used my laptop for, I have to be able to use it like I use a computer. Meaning that I have a music app open, the browser with a number of tabs open, my e-mail app open, a game open and an image or doc program open. You see I move around a lot. I usually have a lot of projects that I'm working on and I will jump from one to the other as the spirit moves me. Plus I like to be kept up and notified in real time. I don't like waiting on programs and if the program is slow then I need a game or something to entertain me while I wait. The iPhone method of closing and opening apps is just not what I want and is why I went with Windows Mobile the last time.

The other thing was this idea of pulling all of your contacts and content into one place with real time cloud updates. I have information, networks and contacts all over the place. Which is why I usually have 5 to 10 tabs open in FireFox. I really feel that the future of the internet and social networking is combining all these different feeds and contacts into one place. The more you have them combined the less work and the more effective it will be. I'm already start to try to tie in my tweets, facebook and website entries into one place. There are a few options out there but none are at a truly easy to use level. The Pre however as a mobile device does a good job but I wish they would support myspace and yahoo. I'm sure it's coming but I have to say to have everything on google, AIM and Facebook within a few seconds was incredible and it's only going to get better.

Though I haven't really dug into it as much as I should the idea that all the apps are written using basic HTIL and web code was a big one. This really opens up developing apps to a larger group of people. There is already a large homebrew community at precentral http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-apps which is kind of a preview of what . One interesting idea is that an app can be designed for your personal or business need. Thank about this for a minute. You could create an app to gather information and organize them to your needs. Best of all, it's all open source except the UI. All Linux based which means lots of developers and faster development.

I could go on and on about the phone but I think that is enough for now. I'm feeling a big anti-Apple rant coming on and think I should save that for later.