Author: Jeff Hendricks

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Anger, Disappointment, and Wisdom

Sometimes when you’re just be-bopping along, life comes up to you and sucker punches you. Sometimes, when you’re stuck in traffic and you’re driving a 50-year-old car, it overheats and breaks down. And our first natural response is to get mad.

Do we have the right to get mad about life in general? Well, it depends: are you mad that God allowed it to happen, or are you mad at yourself? Or are you just mad at something that you have no control over, and was (in all likelihood) statistically bound to happen eventually?

We have these funny ideas about how the world works, and who’s in control of things. Is it God? Is it physics? Is it our own willpower? Flying Spaghetti Monster? The Force?

Job was a righteous man who got very angry with how things played out. We see in Job chapters 38-41, God lays down this challenge in reply: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth?” And Job, a righteous man, had nothing to say. He couldn’t defend his anger. Continue reading “Anger, Disappointment, and Wisdom”

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Information Diet – Week Five

A while back, I wrote about how I was using Zapier and IFTTT to filter all of my social media notifications through Evernote, so that I didn’t have to actually visit those sites on a regular basis. I’m now a month into it, and I figured it was time to post my findings.

In reality, how well it works depends on what my mind is focused on that day (or that hour). The good news is that it does indeed capture my social media interactions exactly like I wanted it to. The bad news is, it didn’t magically immediately change my habits, which is what is needed to actually make it useful.

Bottom line: the system does work when I use it. It doesn’t prevent me from still checking social media sites occasionally. For that…. I’ve got a secret weapon, called StayFocusd.

This program is a Chrome browser plug-in that allows me to limit how much time I can spend on certain websites. I can tell it certain times of the day (or days of the week) to track it, and I can even have it lock those sites out if I reach my limit. Obviously this is an extreme measure, but the reality is, how else am I going to enforce it? My ADD won’t allow me to not think about it. So the alternative is to manage that information, skim it in a usable way (with Evernote) and then discourage myself from going around the method.

So going forward, this week I’m going to start using StayFocusd to enforce my Social Media information management.

Artificial means are a necessary way for people like me to get things done. Artificial deadlines, artificial schedules, artificial website blackouts: I use whatever works. It can apply to writing, working, social media, recreation time, or whatever.

 

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Here It Goes Again

As usual, I feel the need to apologize for not posting more often. On one hand, I really enjoy blogging and writing in general. On the other hand, I’ve gotten a lot of things done that needed doing in the last 2 weeks. I finished putting the interior back into my car. Fixed the shower in the master bathroom. Got the Rambler running better (and then it broke again). Wrote a few chapters on my current non-fiction book project. Recorded and edited a new podcast, and made music for it! Figured out my guitar setup’s MIDI control configuration.

The good part is that I’m being very creative and productive- the bad part is that blogging hasn’t been much of a piece of that yet. All of those things I did are worthy of blog posts on their own, and hopefully I’ll get to do just that.

So for now, here’s a video by OK Go.

Here it goes again!
[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA”]

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Using Automation To Centralize Input

Recently, Zapier announced that they would be rolling out a new feature: multi-step automated internet functions they call “zaps.” Now, I’ve written about IfTTT and Zapier before, and if you’re plugged into the internet at all, it’s possible they can help you automate things that take up your precious time. I’m currently using these programs to auto-generate task lists every morning, and send myself reminders to update the list during the day. I also have an ongoing” to-do list, for things that are long-term projects. If I add an item to my Google tasks, it’s automatically added to my Evernote list. If someone follows me on Twitter, they’re automatically added to my contact list in Evernote. The goal is to centralize my information input: to conglomerate everything to one portal, where I can look through all the information I need in one place. It could be Google Docs/Keep, or Evernote, or Office 360, or whatever information management program you like. But it should be something that’s accessible anywhere, and is flexible enough to manage any kind of information.

But automation is a mixed blessing for me. It opens up a world of possibilities, and I usually spend more time playing with it than actually getting things done. This is especially true when playing with apps like Tasker, Evernote, and AutoKey. Continue reading “Using Automation To Centralize Input”

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Goodbye, Google MyTracks

Today is Groundhog Day here in the States… and for some reason, it seems very familiar…. as if this has somehow happened before….

In yet another stunning move that kills off something very productive that people actually use, Google has decided to end support for its MyTracks fitness app:

After April 30, 2016, My Tracks will no longer be available. We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause My Tracks users. We’ve made the tough decision to invest our efforts into other, more wide-reaching, mapping projects.

Of course, the reason they’re killing it is because MyTracks doesn’t make Google any money. I can understand not maintaining it, but just EOL’ing it (End-Of-Life, fyi (for your information)) is something I don’t see as a smart move. There are more than 10,000,000 installs of it, and over 200,000 reviews of the app… something tells me they could have done something with it if they really wanted to. Continue reading “Goodbye, Google MyTracks”

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Posts With Lasers

As someone with- how shall I say it- “questionable” focusing ability, I’m always fighting the urge to allow myself to be distracted. Thanks to the internet and social media, there’s never a shortage of distractions.

Gee, thanks, internet.

What I need is Laser Focus. And I don’t have it, not even close. But it is possible for me to focus for short periods of time, say, an hour or so.

I’ll be honest, I’m tired a lot. That’s mostly because I don’t get enough sleep, which compounds my focusing problem. But something has to give, right? I just can’t sleep 8 hours and take over the world. So I’m going to update the Blog® as often as I can without lowering the quality of my posts. Where does that balance lie? I guess I’ll have to find out. For now I’ll be working on material for some nonfiction books, and I’ll post some of that here when I can (hint: some of it is already posted!) and I need to focus more on that. Continue reading “Posts With Lasers”

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Hail To The Insanity

Why don’t I post more about politics?

Simply put, I dislike politics, politicians, and the government in general. I don’t like hearing people’s opinions on it, I can’t stand reading about all the stupidity that Washington D.C. propagates, and it infuriates me to think about voting for a President when I know none of the people applying for the job are who I’d want to run the country.

It gets pretty discouraging, really. In America, our political system is corrupted from top to bottom, and it’s not going to just suddenly fix itself. When you remove morals from everything, what you get is a disgusting mess. People waving around handfuls of excrement, shouting “look how progressive we are!” and nobody believes it.

Really, this is nothing new. Compared to the Roman Empire, America isn’t even a flash in the pan. Back then, corruption was worse, morals and ethics were worse, death and destruction were worse, the economy was worse… everything about life sucked more than it does now.

Today, we don’t have it that bad. Even with all the “horrible” things going on, we still live in the lap of luxury compared to most places, then or now. Continue reading “Hail To The Insanity”

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To Live Is To Die

I’ve been thinking about death a lot lately.

Not by choice, mind you. It just seems to be popping up everywhere. Family members, movies, TV, the news, books. Someone dies and I think about it. In fact, three famous personalities- Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie, and Alan Rickman (all who were the same age as my dad, coincidentally) died in the past week or so.

As a believer in Jesus Christ- who was able to look Death in the eyes and overcome it- Death has an interesting role to play for me. It’s not the end of everything.

Even so, losing someone you love is always sad. Being afraid to lose someone you love is even worse, as you relive it over and over again in anticipation. We meditate on the possibility dying, and in doing so, I think we tend to overlook the significance of the actual life that did (or could) end.

Death is significant, but only because it marks the end of something that was significant.

In other words: If life wasn’t important, death wouldn’t matter. Our modern funerals are known for celebrating the departed’s life; remembering the good memories and things associated with it.

How hard would it be for us to celebrate this while people are still alive? Why is it that we mourn with regret, only when it’s too late? What would it look like if we celebrated the lives of our loved ones every day? Continue reading “To Live Is To Die”

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Social Media And You (And Me)

I’m old enough to remember before Social Media existed. Heck, I remember before the internet, cell phones, unleaded gasoline, and video games existed. (Yes, I’m old. Shut up and get off my lawn!)

Seriously though, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gone through phases of using the internet and social media. Back before the Internet even, there were things called dial-up BBS’s that you could dial into with modems, and were their own little self-contained social computer networks.

Somewhere, someone had the idea that “more is better” in the American tradition, and turned ARPANet into the behemoth that is now called the Internet.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The internet is a tool, much like anything else we use to get things done. It has potential, and pros and cons. Sometimes it’s the right tool for the job, and sometimes it’s not.

For collaborating on documents, researching, and connecting with people far away, the Internet is a good tool. It’s allowed us to do things that were once the realm of science fiction.

But what most people use it for nowadays, a.k.a. “social media” it’s not only a poor choice, it could actually be harmful to us socially.

We are constantly balancing things like privacy, security, and convenience. The question we should ask ourselves is “what real problem does Facebook/G+/Twitter solve, and is it the best solution?” Continue reading “Social Media And You (And Me)”

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I’m Now A Goodreads Author

After a bit of work, I decided to apply for author status on goodreads.com so I can organize my bookshelf, and let you- my faithful readers- know when I have more writing projects coming up. You can visit my Goodreads author page here.

Since I’m not going to waste a whole day’s blog post on that short announcement, here’s a few thoughts I’ve been chewing on:

After an excellent discussion about yesterday’s blog post, I’ve decided to write a daily creed that I can recall, to help me keep my focus. I haven’t written it yet, but I will be working on it over the weekend.

Also, I’ve decided to dedicate my Saturday mornings to writing on my novels. In 3 hours, I can get several thousand words written, and though it’s not as fast as I’d like, it’s as much as I can commit to right now.

My exercise routine has been on hold for 3 weeks. That’s right, I haven’t done anything. What I have done is reclaimed my sleep schedule. It’s going to be a struggle…. it may be a while before I get back to bike commuting, unless I can move my work hours. Getting up at 4:30 just isn’t working. It’s affecting my mental state in a bad way. I will go back to it at some point, but for now, sleep is more important.

I’ve been fighting car problems, too. Nobody wants to hear about those, but let’s just say, I had to rip the whole interior out of my Saturn because of water leaks in the sunroof. The ’65 Rambler needs a brake cylinder seal replaced before I can drive it again. And since I’m not riding my bike, I’m left driving the gutted Saturn.

Creativity-wise, I’m starting a new project soon with my friend and fellow author, musician, and ADD Mastermind, JohnnyHow. Can’t give much detail on it yet, but it’s going to be fun, random, and in all likelihood extremely crazy. And did I mention random?

Fun times ahead! Stay tuned, kids!