The Column

Motto: I think Parcheesi is a cheap, unpleasant, and blatantly inauthentic game I am writing this on our porch. We really like our place. Even after the " newness"  has worn off we've still comment about our deep affection for our home every day, and that's a really nice feeling. The Column here I'd like to take in a slightly new direction. I'd rather produce shorter, more well-edited posts than I have been writing. This will be the first of that not-too-drastic change in direction. This week is Google I/O. I/O is Google's annual developer conference that I've written about many, many times . Rather than tell you my predictions based off other people's speculation, I'm just going to tell you what I hope  will happen. I hope Google announces a Nexus device that doesn't turn out to be a massive flop. I hope they announce new features and updates to existing ones that provide a clear direction for 2015. Last year was a bit of a down

Motto:  This Column May Set a Record for the Greatest Number of "I" Uses. Not proud. This Column is going to take a deep dive "Inside Baseball". Moreso than most of my other posts, I'm writing this for my own gratification. I'm going to write about the Life Tracker, it's history, and where I see it going in the future. After you move out of your parent's house and go to college it can be difficult to find a well-balanced life. Eventually, the school itself will provide a structure around which you can build a path to success (or failure, you're call). After college, there's work... for whatever reason, my life in the working world didn't lend itself to structure as well as my life in college. All the sudden I was 100% responsible for what I ate, what I did with my time, and what I spent this newfound income on.  While that challenge is a great privilege, it was still a stressful time when I really REALLY realized what it meant. I

Motto: I Might Be Inclined Melissa and I are back from vacation. It was great. I'm sitting at the table. It's late at night. Melissa is grading. The cats are sleeping on their tree. The place is freshly cleaned. The temperature is just right. I've got no need to wake up early tomorrow. I've done lots of work on projects today. I've had a lot of time to relax. Everything is perfect. Okay it just got a bit too hot. RUINED! Last month's 30 Day Challenge was to " Work out before work. Take lunch to work. " How successful was I? In a word: Somewhat. I worked out before work about half the time.  I brought lunch to work probably only 3 days a week.   On those occasions where I failed, I did find myself at the gym later that day more often than usual. The net effect was I exercised 53% of the days of April. Compare this to my average of 31% and it's a noteworthy accomplishment. Still it falls short of the 73% that truly "every day&quo