New Year’s Resolution?

While I’m pretty sure that I’m not “perfect”, I’d wager I’m somewhere on the positive end of that bell-curve. Regardless, it’s New Year’s Day, and today is supposed to be about resolutions and setting a new tone for the next 12 months, right?

Well, I could say I plan to “work out more”, “eat better”, “be less of an arrogant bastard”, but really if I improve on any of those fronts, imagine how rough it’ll be for every other dude out there. I really don’t want to make the other bro’s look bad, and plus I’m not in the mood for lying to myself and making empty promises.

Instead, let’s talk about how I’ve spent the last year:
- Traveling. They say that travel expands the mind and I can tell you that the places I saw, the history I took in and the environments I experienced in the past 12 months will always stay with me. It’s a bit awkward that I really want to talk about these places but haven’t figured out a way to do that without sounding like I’m bragging. Perhaps the best way to do so is just to encourage folks to travel themselves. Yes, I do want a bigger TV for the living room, but I’d be willing to sacrifice that upgrade and put the same money towards a flight back to London and a hop over to Spain. In the end, will your grandchildren want to hear about your 55″ LCD you used to own, or about the adventure you had in Barcelona (especially if that’s where you meet their hottie of a grandmother…)
- After a great friend introduced me a professional writer, I took their advice and made the leap into guest posting this year, with work accepted at sites as diverse as Bloomingrock.com & worldofmatticus.com
- Though we started in the last half of 2010, this project didn’t really hit it’s stride until Jan/Feb 2011, but boy am I glad it did. The time invested into the gaming podcast I cohost has been some of the most rewarding activity I’ve done this year. Not only is doing a podcast loads of fun (at least the way we do it), but the people you get to meet in the community, the folks you interact with, the fictional barriers of popularity that can be torn down… long-story short, I’ve met and befriended some great folks who I’d never have expected to get to know if I wasn’t a part of the podcast. I know that it’s not for everyone, and we don’t really try to be the most universal. We do what’s fun for us and our guest and we hope other people enjoy it.
- Career Change. As horribly cliche as it sounds, when one door closes, another one opens. Over the past decade, I’ve put-off going back to school and have only looked for other employment once, largely because I was satisfied with the job I had and felt it was stable enough to anchor my life around. When that option came to a screeching halt last July, I figured there was no better time to see if I couldn’t make the leap to a field I really wanted to be in. Turns out, one doesn’t always know all of one’s options, and luckily I was able to land a new position that is so challenging it’s rewarding on it’s own.

- Ryan

Muppet Science T-Shirt, I need you in my life

Pretty sure this garment perfectly documented both my love/hate relationship with science, and my 80′s childhood.

Sometimes shit just needs to blow up and you have no words for how/why. That’s the genius of Beeker. Get on board with it.

BTW: New Muppet’s movie out 11/23/11. Jason Segal + Kermit, hell yeah. May need to find a new movie buddy, since the current one is rejecting the awesomeness of this particular brand of nostalgia, thus straining our joint-laughter symbiosis.

The Real Meaning behind Signs

A bit of a mea culpa: I still enjoy absurdist humor. Puns, witticisms, plays on words, plays about words, plays where the main character is the letters that compose a word (whoa, that got pretty meta). Long story short, if it’s funny when other folks think it’s cheesy, I’m that guy.

Such as in this case: The True Meaning behind odd warning signs
(Sorry about the huge amount of scrolling, but it’s Sunday, so I figured why not. Hope you enjoy.)

Gamer Stereotypes debunked

It has to be funny that it’s more socially acceptable to say I write a blog (basically a grown up version of “dear diary” where-in I think people actually want to read what I have to say) than to say that I play video games seriously (as in, not just Madden 2012 with the boys a couple times a year, I mean full-on coordinated teams with sponsors and planning and such). Even knowing that I’m awesome at all things I do, I still feel a little reluctant to reveal how much I game to the average person.

Fresh Out of Tajikistan

New stuff from Specter Dusambe, via WoosterCollective.com.

The change in texture is amazing to me. I can’t take my eyes off of it.

Solar-Powered 3D Printer could House the World

Saw this write up over at Inhabitat the other day, and can’t believe that we have this kind of tech and aren’t pushing serious money behind it.

So here’s a device that can use solar power to melt sand into whatever shape it wants. What’s to say we can’t expand upon this and set-up multiple on a larger scale to churn out housing solutions after a disaster?

I think the applications for this particular technology are astounding, and I look forward to what we can create with it.

Cut the clutter

I cannot think of a scenario where I wouldn’t like the example on the right more than the one on the left.

About Time HIMYM

Before I’m proven wrong later tonight in what I suspect to be the “we’ll bring her back just to send her away for good” episode, I have to say, isn’t is great to have Victoria back on the show? She was always my bet as the long-shot in this series, and I still hold strong on the possibility for a re-return. Plus, if Rachel Bilson’s out, at least Ashley William’s isn’t too hard on the eyes, eh?

Sometimes you just roll with the noobs

Why bother arguing when there’s an easy buck/LOL to be made?

Unexpected Hottie

Since I’ve never seen or read Harry Potter, I’m calling it fair play on thinking Emma Watson is crazy cute now. Plus, any girl that can work out her body & mind at the same time earns extra sexy points for efficiency.