Posted by Ryan
November 1, 2007
Don’t believe in miracles? I do, and I’m going to attempt to show you that they really happen.
How?
I’m going to try this NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) thing and post every single day this month.
This will be a miracle because the last time I got close to posting every single day for a month was back in January of 2005, as you can see from my archives page.
Prepare ye to be amazed.
Posted by Ryan
November 2, 2007
I have often felt as though I were on a teeter totter of which I had no control. A drawn representation of such a feeling might look like something like this:
Posted by Ryan
November 3, 2007
42. Not only is it the answer to everything, but it’s also the number of times you have you said “I don’t have time to read books.”
Okay, maybe you haven’t said that, but you probably know someone who has. I do read books, but I’ve also been known to wish for more time to read.
And then I go read blogs and/or email for 3 hours.
Thankfully, other people have this same problem. What happens when you have a problem that many people have? Someone comes up with a cool solution.
We created DailyLit because we spent hours each day on email but could not find the time to read a book. Now the books come to us by email. Problem solved.
Posted by Ryan
November 4, 2007
I’m not going to expound much on my thoughts in this post, only provide a few things to think about.
First, a quote about Mr. Charles Darnay from the book A Tale of Two Cities.
In London, he had expected neither to walk on pavements of gold, nor to lie on beds of roses; if he had had any such exalted expectation, he would not have prospered. He had expected labour, and he found it, and did it and made the best of it. In this, his prosperity consisted.
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Two Promises
This got me thinking about prosperity and about my own expectations. In discussing this with a friend this scripture came up.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
And finally, I thought about this talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin, Apostle in the LDS Church: The Abundant Life. Here’s a quote from the talk.
Those who devote their lives in pursuit of their own selfish desires at the exclusion of others will discover that, in the end, their joy is shallow and their lives have little meaning.
On a tombstone of one such person was carved the following epitaph:
Here lies a miser who lived for himself,
And cared for nothing but gathering pelf,
Now, where he is, or how he fares,
Nobody knows and nobody cares. 9We are happiest when our lives are connected to others through unselfish love and service.
Let us all reflect upon our own expectations and priorities and make changes where necessary.
Posted by Ryan
November 5, 2007
Two posts ago, while talking about DailyLit, I mentioned the following:
As soon as it gets closer to Christmas I’m going to read A Christmas Carol.
Well, it turns out that Saturday I was feeling sick and so didn’t go anywhere all day. I got pretty bored in the evening while reading A Tale of Two Cities. I wanted to read something a bit more exciting. So I started reading A Christmas Carol. I read 9 “parts” (DailyLit doesn’t email you a full chapter at a time, only parts of chapters) and went to bed. I had no plans to finish it quickly.
And then today I got on my computer and read the daily email… and then clicked the “send me the next part immediately” link 27 times to finish the book! ha ha!
I don’t like listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I didn’t at all mind reading such an excellent a Christmas book.
I will, however, wait in wishing you all happiness in the aforementioned holiday.
Posted by Ryan
November 6, 2007
I don’t think I’ve ever posted videos of our team performances. So here you go. I’m on the far left in both videos.
This is from Camp Hollywood 2006, where we took 2nd place:
This is from the 2007 Utah Lindy Exchange:
For of you who are thinking “wow, I want them to perform at my next company party!” or something similar to that, check out our cool website, theswingteam.com. The site, by the way, was designed by the incredible designer I work with. He also does photography.
Posted by Ryan
November 7, 2007
People liked the videos so I thought I’d post another one today. I don’t know why I never posted this (maybe I did?)! It’s from the Rhythmic Arts Festival which took place over New Years this past year. This is a video of the Jack and Jill finals, which I am in (still not sure how I made finals). For those who don’t know, a jack and jill contest is a contest for which you don’t have an assigned partner. You dance in the prelims with random partners and then for the finals you also get a random partner.
I got a dancer from Denver, Teni, for the finals. We’re the 4th couple. This was the first time (and only time so far) I’d ever made finals in any national competition. I didn’t feel nervous, but my mind was completely blank and I’m not terribly proud of how I danced, but who really cares? It was fun and that’s what matters. Live and learn.
And just because it’s so cool, here’s the partner charleston finals from the same weekend:
Posted by Ryan
November 8, 2007
Not long ago, in a classroom not far from where I live, I was sitting in a class (how ironic, being in a classroom). In this class the teacher was teaching stuff I’ve heard before. I wasn’t ornery or upset or anything, but I was tired. Wishing I was still in bed, I didn’t think it was worth my time to review the material again. Then, I realized I had an awesome opportunity. I got to review the material again! I recognized that I didn’t know even a small percentage of what was to be learned from the subject. This change in attitude came quickly and when it did I immediately started learning. I walked away from the class happy that I’d woken up to go. It put me in a great mood for the rest of the day.
Don’t discount re-experiencing something you already know. There are people out there who are providing a point of view that you may never have heard before. That unique viewpoint may be just what you need at this particular point in time.
- Tony D. Clark, The Point Of View May Be New To You
In my example I was learning from the same person both times the material was taught. This doesn’t, however, mean that the experience could be discounted. I dare say that even if you listen to someone teach the same thing several times word-for-word, if you open your mind to learning, you will learn.
People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.
- C.S. Lewis quoting a “Dr. Johnson” in Mere Christianity, Social Morality
All of this does not mean, of course, that if you are the one teaching that you can be lazy and recite the same exact thing every day for the rest of your life and expect people to listen to you. heh.
Posted by Ryan
November 9, 2007
By reading the title of this post you might incorrectly assume that I have wasted days and days playing this “line rider” game. I say that would be an incorrect assumption because the actual amount of time wasted has been at least 2 weeks.
And I’m lying. I’ve actually only spent 10 or so hours playing it.
Those 10 hours, though, were all in one day.
But I haven’t played it since. Because it is incredibly addicting. One of these days I will take a video of the track I created and put it up for all to see. For now I’ll just put someone else’s video up.
This really puts the ski stunt simulator to shame (though in the ski stunt simulator’s defense, they are rather different so it’s unfair to compare them). You can find more line rider videos on youtube.
Posted by Ryan
November 10, 2007
Most language learning resources I’ve seen make the same mistake: They start out teaching you how to say things like “hombre,” “mujer,” “Hola, cómo estás?” and “Dónde está el baño?” This is fine if you plan on going on vacation to Spain and just want to get around for a week or two. But if you want to actually, say, learn Spanish? It’s a good way to start out with a poor foundation. Really, how often do you really need to say “I am a man, you are a woman” in your daily conversations? Is that really the first thing you should learn?
It would be interesting if truth in advertising was actually enforced. Instead of “Learn Spanish in 15 minutes a day” you’d see things like “Learn how to say ‘I am a man, you are a woman’ in Spanish in 10 days!”
Posted by Ryan
November 11, 2007
The great thing about this whole NaBloPoMo thing (posting every day in November) is that there is no requirement stating your posts have to be a certain length.
So today I am posting a quote from C.S. Lewis. This quote, though I don’t have the source, is very similar to things he says in Mere Christianity so I don’t doubt he really said it.
“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents – the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts – i.e. of materialism and astronomy – are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.”
- C.S. Lewis
And just because I like quotes:
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
- John Quincy Adams
Posted by Ryan
November 12, 2007
I hate my computer… and it has everything to do with this.
Posted by Ryan
November 12, 2007
In my last post I stated that I hate my computer, and that it was due to crappy programmers.
I’ve changed my mind. It was a lack of food. I hadn’t really eaten anything today, so I ate.
And now I don’t hate my computer anymore.
The end.
Posted by Ryan
November 13, 2007
If you’ve read my little blub in the footer you would know that I love New Orleans style Dixieland Jazz music. This question naturally lends itself, of course, to “who’s your favorite dixieland jazz band?”
So because you asked I’ll tell you. This is liable to change at anytime should I hear a better band, but my favorite as of this writing is a band called The Loose Marbles. I present you with a video. Because I like videos. They are fun.
Posted by Ryan
November 14, 2007
Kirk: “Mr. Scott, do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?”
Scott: “Of course sir. How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?”
I realized today that saving the world doesn’t mean doing some hugely important act worthy of fame or some huge prize. It’s doing some little thing for somebody that saves their world, even if it’s just for a moment or two.
Posted by Ryan
November 15, 2007
Believe in the victory before you even begin fighting. The opposite of this is called “WHY TRY Fatalism,” meaning why on earth would you try if you’re just going to fail? The problem with believing you’ll fail is that you’ll probably fail. Sneaky little bugger that whole brain power thing is.
I observe that there are far too many times, where far too many people who, knowing that they alone cannot do all that needs to be done, accept defeat before they even begin to fight, and instead of doing what they can…do nothing. The cumulative effective of these people with their premature sense of fatalism is a society in an unnecessary and accelerated state of decline and disrepair.
- Kirk Weisler
Reading that reminded me of this:
Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.
- James Allen, As A Man Thinketh
Believe before you act and continue believing while you act. The result will be unbelievable. ha!
Posted by Ryan
November 16, 2007
I just saw these two quotes on a Facebook group and I can’t help but share.
The real reason I dance is because I want to explode.
- Bill Evans
I’m surprised I didn’t catch this one while reading the book:
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.
Pride and Prejudice, chapter 3
Posted by Ryan
November 17, 2007
If I were to choreograph a horse race (I have no idea how one would do that) in which the horses represented the books I’m reading it’d be something sort of like this.
The first horse out the gate would run very fast for about 10 yards and then stop and lay down. Every so often it’ll stand up and run for a little bit.
The second horse out of the gate would do the same.
The third horse would step out and return to the gate.
The fourth horse would run out of the gate backwards and run around the track (backwards!) in record time.
Instead of waiting for the first 3 horses to finish, another horse usually bolts from the gate. Some of these lay down, others run off the track, others return to the gate, and others run around a few times before they decide they’re done.
Okay, so what all that means is that I’ve always got several books in my “currently reading” list, but the speed at which I read them varies greatly. There always seems to be one book that I pick up on a whim and finish before the all the others.
The horse running backwards is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It’s running backwards because it’s such a weird book. It seemed natural.
Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
- The Duchess in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter IX
“What?”
Yeah. The book is full of stuff like that. It’s incredibly weird, but quite entertaining.
Posted by Ryan
November 18, 2007
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.
- John Quincy Adams
Posted by Ryan
November 19, 2007
When people ask me what I do I generally respond with something like “save the world from alien invasions,” but only when I want to scare the person off.
Yes, that a lie. I figured it’d been too long since I’d started out a post with a lie.
The truth is, I usually answer the question saying, “I’m a programmer.”
Not anymore though! I read a nifty article today and I’ve decided to change how I respond to this question.
Isn’t it pathetic? We live in a world where people don’t care about the things that you do — the things that interest you. Correction: They care more about how you make money, first and foremost. All the time — parents, friends, family, new people — they all want to know “what do you do?” But it reality, they are asking “how do you make money — what’s your job?”
- David Askaripour
From now on, when someone asks me what I do I’m going to say “I dance, fly fish, read, write, geek out, eat food, think, hike, and pretend to punch people in the face!” As I say that last part I’ll pretend to punch them in the face. People will think it’s hilarious.
Posted by Ryan
November 20, 2007
I haven’t been so excited about a new product in a long time. As cool as the iPhone is, it’s just a way-cooler-than-previous-phones phone. The Amazon Kindle, on the other hand, is something completely new to most people: a wireless reading device.
“Wait, a wireless reading device? That’s not new.”
Ah, but you’re thinking about reading on your phone or PDA. This thing is using electronic paper.
“What?”
Exactly. I find this thing so dang nifty because:
A) I doubt most people even know that there’s such a thing as electronic paper (even though Sony has their eReader).
B) Previous electronic paper devices didn’t have free included wireless that lets you download new books any time you want.
C) No, it’s not Wifi. The thing operates on the cell phone network (Sprint I think?) so it works anywhere a normal cell phone will work.
D) The battery lasts forever. Well, long enough to read War and Peace on one charge anyway.
OKAY so I’ve never actually USED one of these things. I can’t wait to read/hear consumer reviews and see what people actually say about it. If it’s as cool as the videos on the Kindle product page make it look, I just might sell my bed to buy it.
I like to read.
Posted by Ryan
November 21, 2007
I discovered something interesting today while looking for a quote from C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters. The quote is about “Nothing.” What I discovered is that it’s really hard to find a quote when all you can remember is the name of the book and the word “nothing.” Or perhaps nothing has been put up on all these intertubes about that quote. Perhaps I’ll type it out myself when I have the book with me.
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
Posted by Ryan
November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving to all you U.S. residents out there! To everyone else, I hope your hearts are filled with gratitude for what you have as well.
Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character.
- Joseph B. Wirthlin, Sept. 2001
Posted by Ryan
November 23, 2007
About two weeks ago I described what I believe to be the real way to learn a language. I came across a very interesting (and wonderfully geeky) post today about how to not only learn a language, but how to pick a language to learn. Tim Ferriss claims you can learn a language (but not master it) in 1 hour.
How is it possible to become conversationally fluent in one of these languages in 2-12 months? It starts with deconstructing them, choosing wisely, and abandoning all but a few of them.
…
In all cases, treat language as sport.Learn the rules first, determine if it’s worth the investment of time (will you, at best, become mediocre?), then focus on the training. Picking your target is often more important than your method.
I really shouldn’t claim to have even tried learning them, but I have learned a very few basics about Italian and French. I’m now really curious about which one would be easier for me to learn. So I’m going to try deconstructing them, along with several other languages, and go from there.
Posted by Ryan
November 24, 2007
Waking up after 2 PM today caused the day to go by very quickly. Therefore, I justify posting this at 3 AM on 11/25/2007 and back dating it to the 24th.
An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.
- C.S. Lewis
Oh well.
Posted by Ryan
November 25, 2007
Today in church we were reading out of a talk from General Conference called Out of Small Things. In the talk, Michael J. Teh quotes from one of my favorite books by one of favorite authors.
The following advice, given by the deceitful Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, describes a common malady afflicting many of us today: “Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.”
This idea of benevolence being directed far away and malice being directed close by extends beyond benevolence and malice. When I think of being charitable I often think of donating to some large charity that feeds hungry people in other countries. While that’s incredibly important, I sometimes forget that there are people in my own neighborhood, perhaps even in my own family, who may be starving physically or emotionally. Likewise, I have often thought that to become a great business person or a great friend I need to do something really amazing. When people ask me what I do I want to say I build schools in some third world country or something, as if that’s what it means to be amazing.
Doing good things means you do good things, no matter where it is that you do them. Doing something good starts with your innermost circle of influence. It starts with your family and friends, and then on outward. If you never get to feed thousands and thousands of people? It doesn’t mean you didn’t save the world for someone.
Posted by Ryan
November 26, 2007
Some time ago I read about the mechanics of sleep and ever since I’ve still slept in a lot.
Apparently you have to do something with knowledge or it’s of no use. Crazy.
No really, it has helped. I don’t remember the article I read, but it was back in July I think. I’ve slept in plenty of mornings since then, but I have noticed that waking up is significantly easier when I set my alarm to go off after 6 hours of sleep instead of 7, 7 1/2 instead of 8, etc.
So today I called a friend at 9:30 AM. He answered almost right away. He said he went to bed at 3:30 AM.
So, a sleep cycle is 90 minutes. 3:30 AM to 9:30 AM was only 6 hours of sleep, but it was right on the 90 minute cycle. He told me he was going to wake up at 10:30, and that I should call him then. Problem is, 10:30 AM was 30 minutes before the next cycle ended, so naturally he’d sleep right through his alarm.
I didn’t actually call at 10:30, but I figure he probably turned off his alarm when it went off and so by 11 when the sleep cycle ended he kept on sleeping. I tried calling several times around 12 PM with no answer. The next cycle should be ending right about now.
…
Dang it. No answer after 5 attempts. The sleep cycle can be 90-110 minutes. I’ll try again in a few minutes. This is fun!
Posted by Ryan
November 26, 2007
There’s some hilarious commentary going on over on my post about ad blocking.
It’s sad how many people really don’t understand the difference between a right and a privilege. And how much they contradict themselves.
So they complain that their bandwidth is wasted. Really? Do these people go around thinking “okay this site right here is going to take approximately 10 KB of my monthly bandwidth. *click* 20KB!? What?!” Yeah right. If that were the case they’d be complaining about a lot more than advertisements. They would disable all images, css, and javascript, or just browse the internet with lynx.
The claim that advertisements waste their hard drive space is even more ridiculous. Hard drive space is super cheap and they control how much cache their browser uses.
I don’t know how these people expect to be taken seriously.
Posted by Ryan
November 27, 2007
You’ll have to go read what I wrote two days ago to know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m not going to bother catching you up. Anyway, I stated two days ago that this idea of directing benevolence far away and malice close by extends beyond benevolence and malice. And then the examples I gave were basically about benevolence and malice. So I figured I’d provide an example that isn’t.
I recently heard a story about a guy visiting the Grand Canyon. This guy was talking to an Arizona resident about the canyon and the resident stated she’d never been to the Grand Canyon. The guy was shocked that, living so close, she’d never seen the Grand Canyon. It is, after all, one of the wonders of the world. The guy then admitted that he could understand it because he’d never been to the Statue of Liberty, and he’s from New York. The girl, as it turned out, had been to the Statue of Liberty.
The moral of the story is, of course, to go see the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
No really, the moral is to look closer. Go see cool things in your own state as well as going to see other cool wonders.
Posted by Ryan
November 29, 2007
1. Go to bed
2. Read a book
3. Ask a girl on a date (it’s way too late at night, so it’s not a good idea, but technically it’s something I could do)
4. Drink some water
5. Go running around outside (too cold)
6. Eat ice cream
7. Work
8. Chips with cheese melted on top is good anytime, anywhere.
9. Write a list of things I could do and listen to Christmas music*. Oh wait, that’s what I’m doing.
10. Practice interpretive dance moves in my room to Enya’s Wild Child song.
Confession time! I’ve spent a lot of time on #10. I kid you not. One of these days I’ll get the VHS video I made and put it up for all to see.
* I’m listening to Swingin’ the Season by the Boilermaker Jazz Band. It’s the first real lindy hop-able Christmas album I’ve heard. The Boilermakers are awesome.
Posted by Ryan
November 30, 2007
As if NaBloPoMo wasn’t enough, now there’s NaBoMoReMo.
At least it doesn’t involve posting every day. heh
NaBloPoMo was fun, but I’m glad it’s over.
I do have an about page, but since this little section down here exists I should probably use it.
Basically, I love to read. I love to dance. I love to travel. I am fluent in both Spanish and English.
Also, New Orleans Dixieland Jazz music is pretty much the best music ever.
I'd like to thank the establishment and also, Wordpress.
© Ryan Martinsen, 2010.
All rights reserved.
