Did this blog just turn into another dead blog statistic? Just sitting there on internet never to be updated while the hosting continues on. I don’t have any excuses. That’s not entirely true, I have excuses, I will list them:
1. I hate the design of this blog ( I am working on a new design ).
2. My “r” key sticks, but it didn’t do it then.
3. I manage time poorly.
4. I am forgetful.
5. I’ve been out of town ( that’s not much of an excuse, as I bring computer everywhere )
6. Work.
7. No one read it anymore, that’s my fault.
When I am not blogging, I am doing the following. In no particular order.
1. Wii
2. Xbox360
3. Learning Actionscript 3 ( getting angry with the transition ).
4. Watching Lost and getting lost.
5. Thinking about writing in my blog.
6. Making a twitter reader in Flash.
7. Redesigning this blog, very slowly.
8. Eating soup far to much.
9. Growing a beard then shaving it off, over and over again.
10. Visiting Chicago.
11. Thinking about the new Iphone.
12 Listening to new music (Portishead and others)
13. Working out then not working out.
14. Making lists.
15. Drinking coffee.
16. Not keeping up with my blog.
So what should be done? I’ll just keep going, because that’s what the fans want. Gotta take care of the fans.
Go visit the weirdOff will you, so I can make fun of you.
Love
T(h)om
Filed under: lists, web site newsT(h)om @ 9:56 pm
Somethings in life I have always considered as “grown up”. For instance, drinking coffee, fixing things around the house, drinking wine(not a whole bottle of wine), taking weekend trips, going antiquing, enjoying Werther’s Original’s, going to the gym, having dinner parties, reading the Wall Street Journal, making a home budget to name a few. Recently I have found myself doing some grown up things myself, can you guess which one? No, not antiquing. I have started to drink coffee for the first time and work out at the gym. I used to hate coffee but it’s grown on me; I can only have a little otherwise I start to feel a little like I am about to die. The gym has always been something I wanted to do in the past but quite frankly I was too lazy at the time. I am dedicated to get in some sort of shape. Hopefully a good looking shape. I need some muscle and and I need now! Currently I am writing this in bed on my laptop in much pain; mostly my biceps and armpit muscles, apparently you have to start slow.
So now I drink a coffee here and there and go to the gym four times a week, this doesn’t mean I am ready to purchase some brown polyester pants and pull them up to my chin. I am still doing tons of things that are youthful, like, playing my Nintendo Wii and XBOX360, not making a home budget, drinking a whole bottle of wine from the bottle, playing music really loudly on a Sunday, ordering Chicken Fingers and Fries in expensive restaurants, not cleaning my dishes and watching Sponge Bob all the time.
Filed under: listsT(h)om @ 10:32 pm
I own an XBOX360 and I love it. The graphics and sound are just incredible. Then I bought a wii and started to have fun. The thing is XBOX is fun and really entertaining but the wii just makes you smile, a really honest smile. Its been said over and over again that the wii’s graphics are perhaps less advance as other systems, and this true. But what the other systems can’t do is what the wii does best, provide really entertaining and amazing game-play. Let’s not forget the ability to download games for older systems like the NES and the SNES; great if you are nostalgic beyond repair like myself.
This is why I have done absolutely nothing pertaining to this blog recently. Mario Galaxy has me zooming around the universe and Link has me running after the Twilight Princess. Please note that despite this incredible distraction I still intend on keeping this thing going.
By the way thank you for all who submitted a weirdOff I appreciate it.
Filed under: technology, wiiT(h)om @ 11:09 pm
Dear T-Mobile: Do You Currently Reside in the Year 2003?
Let’s see, what happened in 2003? That was the year of college I failed an accounting class and began drinking on weeknights. Johnny Cash died, just a few months after June Carter Cash. The Columbia shuttle disaster. The United States entered into hostilities with Iraq under the auspices of that most disingenuous of euphemisms, the War on Terror. And PC World magazine put Motorola’s fashionable RAZR device at #12 on the publication’s list of the 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years.
Five years later, you can still walk into your neighborhood T-Mobile store, and there they are. RAZRs, and a whole host of look-alikes. And not much besides that. Why, do you think? It can’t be because there haven’t been new or innovative mobile devices launched since the RAZR, the hype surrounding the iPhone negates that theory. Could it be because I’m alone in my distaste for a rather dated device beloved of highlighted, Ugg-wearing loud-talking females in public places? While I’m fine with that, the answer is no: RAZR manufacturer Motorola’s global market share is rumored to have slid to less than 10% during the first quarter of 2008 according to analyst reports, and most of those same analysts blame company’s inability to produce a hit device following the RAZR’s launch.
T-Mobile, I want to stay with you, really I do. I like that MyFaves thing you do, and my plan is affordable and includes cheap text messages. And the billing – well, it’s the best I’ve ever had. But as I believe I mentioned in a previous post, I am in the easily targeted demographic known as the Image-Obsessed Mid-Twenties Female Professional with Discretionary Income. And I just can’t bring myself to purchase any of the cell phones you’re selling. Me? Carry a hideous poo-brown T-Mobile Shadow? Surely you jest! I’m used to much more slick design, you know.
I’ve been using the same humdrum handset for almost two years, and I keep hoping T-Mobile has some flashy new gadget up its sleeve, something that doesn’t resemble either the hated RAZR or an elderly Palm Treo, but I’m beginning to give up hope. T-Mobile, don’t you think there might be a problem with the fact that more than half of the phones on your web site have a listed price of less than $50? At a time when AT&T customers are happily forking over $500 for an iPhone? Please – pretty please – reward me for hanging in there with a classy new handset I wouldn’t be ashamed to pull out of my apple green Italian leather handbag. I’m begging you.
T(h)om @ 6:18 pm
It took forever because of so many reasons, but here it is the brand new weirdOff I promised. If your too excited to read on either click “weirdOff” on the menu bar**obviously, or just click here.
I don’t really want to go through the birth of weirdOff again so if you would like to know more about it click here and here. What you should know is that you should use it, explore it and then let me know what you think of it.
Here some technical information about the weirdOff, if you care:
Built in Flash 8
Programming languages used for the whole site:
Actionscript 2.0
PHP 5
Javascript
XHTML
CSS
SQL
I hope you enjoy the weirdOff. Expect changes in the future especially if it gets used a lot, I’m not sure how it will handle with a tons of weirdOff entries in it. I’m also redesigning this blog for millionth time and this will happen hopefully soon, but probably not. Have a great day weirdoes!
Filed under: flash, web site news, weird offT(h)om @ 7:54 pm
Yes it’s been just over a year since the birth of Halfdayclosing.com. What started out as a web design project for school has turned into a so many other things. Wow that was vague wasn’t it? Let me start explaining all this will a series of statistics, recorded from March to now.
General Statistics
2460 - visits
779 - absolute visits
6168 - pageviews
2.51 - average pageviews
3:19 - average time on site
Visits based on location
USA - 2313
Canada -58
Spain - 21
UK - 18
Australia - 8
Statistics can be misleading but in this case they are not. Halfdayclosing is not the most popular blog in the world, as you can see. If you read about how to manage a successful blog here is what they will tell you.
- Write frequently (nope, I write sporadically)
- Write good (Obviously)
- Have a theme or purpose for the blog (this goes against the whole point of my blog)
- Contribute to other blogs (not very often)
- Promote your blog(not so much)
So as you can see I’m not really concerned about all the rules about crafting a successful blog. But I would like to get more visits. The problem is time. I have no time and I have hard time organizing it when I do find it. So if you can write interesting things and don’t want any money let me know and perhaps you could write on this thing once in a while.
So what about the future. I kept the blog up for one whole year and wrote 61 posts and received 175 comments. I made my goal. My next goal is another year with way more content. One of the things I am really excited about is the “Weird off” application I said I would develop back in June. The application is basically a flash based interactive tool you can explore peoples weird off comments. Unfortunately this thing was put on the back burner for a while but just recently I put some hours into it and I am really close to done. In fact the thing is fully functional I just have some adjustments to do. Stay patient.
Of course expect another re-design. I think I’ve gone through 4 or 5 redesigns already. The new design is going to take a while to do with the things I want to change. Plus I haven’t started yet.
So for those who visit, Thank You.
Filed under: end of month, web site news, weird offT(h)om @ 11:33 pm
You might recall my previous post about the passive aggressive neighbors leaving notes about cats pooping in the hall. If you didn’t read the one check it out here, http://www.halfdayclosing.com/2007/11/15/cats-pooping
Well I am pleased to say the past few days a couple of tenants went a little note crazy. Why am I thanking them? Because it provides me with another blog post. Just like the original post about silly notes I took some photos.
This was the first note left the other day. Notice the “Z” in “Pleaze”, the red marker or perhaps it’s written in blood and exclamation marks. It might be a little difficult to see in the photo but someone has written a response which reads, “But do make sure it is closed”.
The note shown below was taped to the door about two days after the original one was. Basically the note is just illustrating the point that the door will only close if it is slammed shut and it needs to be fixed. Which is true.
I’m thinking about posting my own slightly passive aggressive note on the door as everybody else is. But I am not sure what to write about. Perhaps I could complain about my upstairs neighbor who thumps around in circles and rearranges furniture late at night, like right now. Or how the back door to the building always slams shut and wakes me up. I guess I would rather read other peoples complaints than write mine out on paper and tape them to the door. It’s just good reading.
Signed 1st Floor apartment…who hates the 2nd floor tenant for his/her inconsiderate loud walking, the 1st floor women who lives across from me who bitches about the washer and driers that keep her up all night, that one lady who washes one piece of clothing one machine at a time, the women who sings top 40 tunes in the shower when I am trying to think and whoever cooks rancid fish with garlic and stinks up the whole place. Oh an make sure you keep that door shut while making sure it is silent.
Filed under: apartment livingT(h)om @ 12:17 am
When I get home late from a hard day of work I’m just too tired and lazy to cook a full meal for myself. You probably can sympathize with this. So when I’m not watching my figure I give the local pizza joint a call. When I was living in Chicago one of my favorite places to call was a place called Pizza-Ria. They had several varieties of pizza but my favorite was called, wait for it… “Getting Cheesy with it”. So what’s my issue? Well I have a problem with being made to say “Getting Cheesy with it”, it just makes me feel like such a tool bag. On top of all that I really hate that I have to use Will Smith’s 1998 timeless hit, “Getting Jiggy with It” as a pun. Let me give you an example of such a pizza order:
Me: Hi, I would like to order a pizza for delivery.
Pizza Guy: Sure, what would you like?
Me: Ah, yes I would like to order one….”Getting Cheesy With It” pizza.
Pizza Guy: I’m sorry what pizza?
Me: “Getting Cheesy With It”… the pizza that is…
Pizza Guy: Sorry must be a bad line, one more time.
Me: “Getting Cheesy With It” *whisper*.
At the end of the conversation I am so embarrassed I have huddle into a corner and gently whisper my request. How demeaning.
I have other examples of this phenomenon that I have recently noticed. Here is a quick list.
California Dreamin’ Sandwich (Safeway Select Sandwich)
Hail Caesar! Sandwich(Note the exclamation point, Safeway Select Sandwich)
The Big Meaty (Pizza-ria)
That’s all I could think of from the top of my head, but I know there’s more examples out there. If you have personal experience with this please let me know, I would love to know.
Filed under: UncategorizedT(h)om @ 8:32 pm
Life is full of a whole bunch of small talk but I am not. If you pay attention you will notice how much we use small talk to communicate. Here is an example:
Person1: Hello. How are you?
Person2: Not bad.
Person1: How was your weekend?
Person2: Pretty good, stayed home and did some cooking.
Person1: Yeah I hear you make a mean chili.
Person2: I don’t want to toot my own horn but yes.
Person1: I’ll have to try some.
You get the idea. What’s funny is I am so bad at small talk I had a hard time writing the above example. The problem with having insufficient small talk skills is that people might mistake you as aloof and or rude. Here is an example of small talk when you lack the skills at hand.
Person1: Hey. How’s it going?
Me: I’m alright.
Person1: What did you do for the holidays?
Me: Hung out with family…you know.
*Pause*(at this point I realize I’m not contributing the conversation)
Me: What did you do for the holidays?
Person1: I went to my parents house, ate a ton of food and pretty much just relaxed, sucks going back to work though.
Me: Yeah…
As you can see very awkward. But to be honest, when this is happening I don’t feel that awkward. It may sound like that I don’t care about the person I am talking with but this is just not true. I do care. Sometimes what people say in passing also cause issues. The following are examples of statements that I have no idea how to react to.
Tomboy how’s it hanging?
What’s up braaaa?(sometimes it’s just bro)
Hey dog what’s shaking?
Stud.
Brit.
Now I know these are just friendly greetings, but for me I have problems with them. If someone says, “Tomboy how’s it hanging?” I’m thinking, how am I hanging today? Once I have definitive answer it’s too late. If I get, “Stud” as someone walks by I’m thinking, thank you, but why are you telling me this, this concerns me. This should be added to the weirdOff.
I might be terrible with small talk, but I am great at long talk. What is long talk? I’m not sure if the definition exists because I think I just made it up. But long talk is a conversation that has real substance and information contained within. I think. Long talk is what you get after the small talk.
Good. I think I am done alienating my audience.
Filed under: small talk, weird offT(h)om @ 9:20 pm
Happy New Year! I can imagine thousands upon thousands of people blogging about New Year’s resolutions and reflecting on the year past at this very moment. Well I am one of them I’m afraid, so here it goes.
Some people like to spend New Years at home others prefer to go out. I am the kind of person who likes to go out and celebrate with as many friends as possible either at someones house or in a bar. This year was a little different. My landlord/building supervisor/psychic/Dutchman was having a party in his penthouse at the very top of the building I live in. Although I didn’t know many people there it was good opportunity to meet new people and have a good time. The best part of the party was the view from the roof. I decided to bring my camera along so I could take some photos from this viewpoint. From the roof I was able to see some fireworks going off in San Francisco, although I was unable to capture them on camera. Unfortunately camera shake with low lighting conditions make these images a little blurry, but you get the idea.
Now for the resolutions:
Blog more (it’s worth a shot)
Eat better
Exercise more (i say “more” but what i really mean is “start”)
Get more done in a day
Reduce my clutter
Save lot’s of money
Spend less money
See more of California
Read more blogs
Work on my horrible grammar and writing skills (commas are your friend)
Redesign the blog over and over again
Time to reflect:
It goes without saying that 2007 was a crazy year. I graduated college, moved to California and got a job, amongst other things. I’ve been blogging almost a year also, which surprises me as I didn’t think I would keep it up. Although I might not write as frequently as I would like, I still get a decent number of visits and for this, thank you. To sum it up 2007 was the year I learned the most, probably most in my whole life, through moving, school and my job. Happy New Year.
Filed under: San Francisco, end of month, goals, listsT(h)om @ 5:31 pm