The Column

Motto: Tangent Systems analysis - that's got to be a passtime of mine. I like taking apart different systems to learn about how they work. Taking apart machines to see how they run. Analyzing workflows to find inefficiencies. Looking at a set of logical processes to and finding ways to reduce their complexity. I like all of these things. So, for a long time I've wished I had some sort of example or set of examples for "how to live a successful and happy life: an up to date guide". It's this fundamental desire that drove me to obsess over note-taking systems, do a several-week-long time analysis project, build a Aaron's Life Reference guide, and create the Life Tracker 1.0 & 2.0... but think about how much easier this would have all been with some examples! I'm talking about something like a series of tutorials & how-tos. A reference guide to everything from "making, keeping, and tracking a budget" to "how to exercise effective...

Motto: I Like Posts Like This If you're reading this, there's a zero percent chance any of these are directed at you. To whom it may concern, You park like a jerk. Learn to aim. I'm glad we don't share a bathroom, because then I'd probably resent you even more. - Aaron To whom it may concern, I'm not impressed by how loud your car is. Also, it didn't really accellerate when you were revving your engine. Were you trying to show off how hard your car has to work in order to just go? - Aaron To whom it may concern, Your burritos are delicious. There is an employee or two that I don't like, but your burritos make up for it. - Aaron To whom it may concern, I like your shirt. - Aaron To whom it may concern, I saw you trip when I drove by. - The guy in the red car To whom it may concern, Celebrating ignorance will be the downfall of the human condition. - Aaron To whom it may concern, Your cans are genius. They protect the aerodyn...

Motto: The Quantified Masses, The Hunt for Ripped October, The Yes Man Cometh, All Other Potential Names I wrote this big huge long piece about the quantified self, but posting it now seems like beating a dead horse. There was one particularly important bit that I don't want to kill, so here's my "one last thing": The quantified self movement has been edging in on "mainstream" for years now thanks to Fitbit, Jawbone, and Nike. I think it is about to get a violent shove into the limelight by both Apple and Google. Apple's HealthKit (the heart on the right) and Google Fit (the heart on the left) are two platforms for health and fitness being built into the two dominant Operating Systems of the day. Apple's introduction of iOS 8 earlier this week gave the world the Health app - a central repository for all of your quantified health and fitness data. The Apple Watch will be a member of a large category of devices that feed data into this platfo...

Motto: Focus, by Marc Jacobs I'm writing this post in First Watch. If you don't know what First Watch is, I feel bad for you, and it is a breakfast & lunch restaurant that serves up the manifestation of deliciousness. My last (extremely long) post covered the year wrap up of the Life Tracker. I have come to additional conclusions since I wrote that post. For example, check out the standard deviation of my calorie intake by day of week: What does that chart show? Statistically, it's showing the standard deviation of my calorie intake by day of week. What that means is this: I eat most consistently on Tuesdays for some reason. Friday has the widest variety of calorie totals. I have not been tracking thing for the past week... and it's been crazy. It's not healthy, but I think the best part about working out, or eating healthy, or accomplishing a lot was the moment I got to write down at the end of the day "Aaron did well". I did yog...

Motto: Aaron, Meet Aaron This post is going to be long, but it's kind of a big deal. Hopefully some of you find it interesting. Last week I added the 52nd "weekly summary" into my Life Tracker. That means I've successfully tracked one full year of my life. With that, I've decided to call an end to the Life Tracker and claim victory in accomplishing the longest-running, most intense project I ever took upon myself. For those of you paying keen attention, you'll notice that I didn't start this project last September; I started it last March. I took off a week or two every now and then (including all of July, 2013), so getting 1 year's worth of tracker data actually took 17 months. Although I may not have tracked as consistently as I would have hoped, I managed to keep the project running for a much longer time than I anticipated going in. Along the way, I learned a ton of useful information. The idea came to me when I realized how unstructured an...

Motto: My Grass is Blue This is going to be a fairly short post. From last Wednesday to last Sunday Melissa and I attended the 43rd Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival. Here are some reflections from my mini-vacation. The environment at Winfield is a completely unique and an absolute joy. Nowhere else would you ever find such a large, dense grouping of nice, accepting, and perhaps most of all talented people. Everyone camps at these festivals. The campgrounds are full up with tents, RVs, campers, bivvies, you name it. Melissa and I got to try out our new camping gear, which we were impressed with. Bluegrass attracts a wider variety of people than you'd expect. I learned this my first time at Winfield. I relearned it my second time. I cannot play music on anything. The older I get the more I resent that fact about myself. Melissa is trying to remedy this, but it's a slow process because I'm stubborn and particularly "average" in that area. Weaving between cam...

Motto: Infall Klocka Two weeks ago I wrote about how excited I was for September . We are not quite halfway through the month, and it's already been one of my favorite on record. There have been so many landmarks, milestones, good things, and good days. As of noon yesterday, I've been an early adopter of the Moto 360 smartwatch. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's this: The Moto 360 runs an Operating System designed by Google called "Android Wear". At its core, Android Wear is meant to be an extension of your phone, not a replacement of it. The user experience is built around quick, lightweight interactions with the device. If you are using Android Wear correctly, you shouldn't be gawking at your own wrist for 20 minutes at a time. That's not something we want. That's not a compelling user experience. That's not what will drive smartwatches to the masses. The watch keeps your interactions with it short and sweet by ...