“What do you like to write about? “

Posted: November 6th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on “What do you like to write about? “

blog

Whenever I tell people that I have a blog, or that I want to be a writer, that’s usually the first question they ask. Well, that or “Really? You think you’re that good?”. Very supportive cast, I know.

Most recently, NaNoWriMo has everyone talking about their progress or ideas for novel writing, and it’s inspired me to take action as well. Instead of attempting a masterpiece of fiction that I was reasonably certain I would not complete, I put out an offer to guest-post on anyone’s blog, thinking it might be particularly helpful to those making their own NaNo attempts,

Right away I received responses asking me what I want to write about. So far I don’t have an answer.

I mean, I previously wrote about the blogs I read, and what that says about me. I’ve written about my interests, but that’s just my wanting to say something and hopefully you not beeing too awfully bored with it.

True, I have certain topics that I write about more frequently (movies, comic-books, dude stuff) or more passionately (urbanism, neighborhoods, sports), but given an entirely blank page, what would I choose to fill it with? Especially if I was given only one chance.

::yes, feel free to queue the Eminem music now::

See, the thing is, I usually write about whatever seems interesting to me in that moment. If something is irritating me, or inspiring me, or confusing me, I’ll write about it to figure it out. It’s not a math problem, I don’t have to know the answer, but I do like to show my work.

Back in January I made myself a list of things I wanted to improve with this site in 2010. The top of that list was items like:

more regular features (failed)
more community (nope, not making good progress there)
don’t be afraid of long posts
more relevant

Well, hopefully I’m doing pretty good on that last one, otherwise I need to go back and kick my own ass for being a slacker this year.

However, never once did I tell myself that I wanted to become a topical blog, mostly because I know that I like to talk about anything under the sun, and limiting myself here only seemed like it would lead to having to create separate blogs for each topic I wanted to contribute to.

I guess, a lot like this blog overall, my post today doesn’t really have a topic, other than to be a mea culpa. Yes, I ramble. Yes, I’m random. Yes, I tend to find an idea and work on it right away, then not go back to it. But hopefully at least I’ve entertained and maybe inspired people along the way as well.


Randomness is my favorite

Posted: March 29th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Comments Off on Randomness is my favorite

That’s why I found this picture and scheduled it for a totally random day in the future*.

*future being a relative term as this is no longer “the future” to you, it is most likely “the present” and very soon “the past” and hopefully someday the “remember that one time when Ryan posted something REALLY funny” and hopefull never (::fingers crossed::) the “that’s the last time I read this shit”.  Either way, I found this pic on 1/4/10.

** the date wasn’t really random.  I decided to pick a day that added up to 42.


Piano + Random = Great Comedy

Posted: March 15th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Comments Off on Piano + Random = Great Comedy

Five Things: Random Topics Still Bounching Around in My Head

Posted: January 12th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Five Things: Random Topics Still Bounching Around in My Head

1.)  Eating better.  True, I always have a great time at the Phoenix Public Market, and have been reading the “Abs Power Diet” book from Men’s Health (can the title be any more “buns of steel”-esque?) but now it’s up to me to put this into practice.  On nights when Anie’s around, it’s pretty easy, since she does a great job motivating me to cook usually.  The challenge will be the nights when I get home from the office late and really just want a sandwich on the way home.   Add to all this the part about me & Anie watching “Food INC” last week and now feeling guilty about eating factory-meats and such. 

2.)  Calling Cards (or personal business cards).  Yes, I’ve been thinking about this since Nov 2008 and still haven’t taken action, but hopefully now I’ve found a good source (both in performance and business ethics), and can meet with my resident branding specialist to get something accomplished.

3.)  Writing.   I like to pretend that I’m a pretty decent writer and that the only thing holding me back is my lack of ambition and/or resources.  I say “like to pretend” to make it sound like less of an embarassing admission of truth.  Sorta like “oh, Jake just likes to pretend like he’s Superman and jumps off of things pretending they’re really high”, as opposed to “poor Jake, he actually thinks he’s Superman.  That body-cast has to be itchy”.  See the difference?  In truth, if I could write fulltime, be it for a magazine, blog, my own novels, random people on the street, whatever, I’d be pretty happy doing it.  I don’t know that I could enjoy the solitary hours of a writer, but I suppose there’s always Twitter for that.

4.)  My nerd-crush on Tina Fey.  Yup, that one’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

5.)  Leading by example.   This one is pretty tough to illustrate for you here, (or for myself, for that matter), but more than anything I’ve been kicking myself these last 2-3 months thinking “I really need to start leading by example”, both at work and at home.  It’s time to get up off my duff and really make things happen. 


Random Quote from a Blog I like

Posted: December 29th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Random Quote from a Blog I like

“Also, I would just like to give a quick geography lesson.  “Across the pond” was defined as an award for non-North Americans.  Almost half of the people nominated were Canadians!  Canada is not non-North America.  Canada is very much North America.  Canada shares a very large border with the US. Canada is America’s Hat.

                                                                                                                       — From 20SB’s blog.


Bring It, folks!!

Posted: October 17th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Comments Off on Bring It, folks!!

Posted: October 15th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Comments Off on

"pain is temporary; pride is forever" – random Texan dude.


First Try, Second Guess?

Posted: May 23rd, 2008 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on First Try, Second Guess?
I am compelled to start my first blog with the traditional:

Hello World!

Well, now that we’ve been formally introduced, why not take your coat off and stay a while? Sorry about the no-coat rack thing; just moved, haven’t finished decking the place out.

Alright, so, though I suppose if anyone reads this they will likely already know me, I figure I should get some basics down on paper here. That is what you do in beginings, right?

– Yesterday was my 26th birthday. Overall it was pretty slow and chill. Not sure how much you can do on a Thursday night when friends that somehow seem to have all become sober. By the way, yes, that means I’m a Gemini and I think it’s pretty fitting.

– I’m 5’10”, I definately need to get in shape, but I can still give you tickets to the gun show.

– I’m probably more proud of my calves that I should be. Wanna take a look?

– I live and work in Central Phoenix. I lived in Midtown for almost 5 years, just moved down to Central & Roosevelt 8 days ago. So far it’s wicked awesome. Just driving around the neighborhood and figuring out which routes to take to avoid traffic and one-ways; still doesn’t relaly seem like I “live” here.

– Sometimes my hair looks like Collossus from the X-Men. I’m actually rather proud of this somedays.

– I am Catholic, though I’ve gone to church less than 5 times in the last year, and maybe twice in the decade before that. Last time I went to church, I took the girl I was seeing at the time and during the whole “peace be with you” part, I totally grabbed her butt out of habit. I like to think JC gave me a big thumbs-up on that one.

– I’ve had a few different jobs in my lifetime (landscaper, errand-boy, ball-boy, burger-flipper, cashier, etc), but I’ve worked for U-Haul now since I was a Senior in High School. Never thought that I’d still be there. Honestly, sometimes I still wonder what it is I “want to do when I grow up”, but for now, this job pays the bills and give me minimal stress.

– Just typing about work right now made me log in to my e-mail to see how things are going on my day off.

– A couple years ago I would have said that Hip-Hop was the love of my life. Now, I’m not sure if it’s just that I’m getting old, or that Hip-Hop has let me down, but my playlist is almost entirely rock these days.

– I have a rule to never drink alone. I’ve given up alcohol for Lent twice already. The second time was much easier than the first, though it’s still tough to say no to cute girls with tequila and surprizingly deep navels.

– I can be totally random and yet somehow still think what I’m saying is totally related. Nothing like existensialism for you, eh?

By the way, here’s a pic I took of myself yesterday. I was at the library and somebody sent me an urgent request to see what I looked like at exactly that minute. Not the greatest of grins, but on short notice it works.