Did LOST add an extra day to February?

So here we are on February 29th. Leap Day, I guess is what it’s called. It’s bitter cold here this morning (-2 when I got up this morning) and I’m wondering why can’t they just add an extra day to June instead of February? The sooner we get out of this wretched month the better.

Below are spoilers for last night’s episode of LOST, so if you haven’t watched it, turn back now.

• So it looks like the writers finally came clean about time travel being part of the show. It was rumored and theorized about for some time.
• Obviously time passes much slower on the island than off the island (the first evidence of which we saw during Daniel’s rocket experiment a week or so ago). If that holds true, Oceanic 815 crashed on 9/22/2004 and Sayid, Desmond and Frank arrive on the freighter just before Christmas (don’t remember the exact date. According to Lostpedia, the island is about 2 days ahead of off-island time.
• Daniel Faraday totally wished he was in Mike + The Mechanics back in 1996.
• There’s some unanswered stuff dealing with paradoxes relating to time travel and I think they did a pretty sloppy job with it. Why didn’t Daniel write in his 1996 journal to not let Desmond go on the helicopter? We could argue that he didn’t want to get caught in a repeating time trap, but then he was clear to give Frank the exact approach coordinates so that Desmond (and others) would NOT time travel.
• So is Daniel time-travelling as well… Desmond is his “constant”
• Desmond and Penelope finally make contact. Why did she keep the same number for 8 years (out of love?)
• Was the door to the sick bay opened by Ben’s “man on the ship”?
• There’s an obvious (or perhaps false) divide between Frank/Daniel and the others on the freighter.
• Given the date that Sayid and Desmond reach the freighter, I wonder if the tsunami theory is valid and if the writers are gutsy enough to go with it given the real-life tragedy involved.

  I enjoyed the episode, but I think this was the weakest episode in an extremely strong season. Next week looks like some serious sh*t is gonna go down on the island.

So what should I write about anyway?

This is probably my fifth or sixth attempt at maintaining a blog. Previous attempts have had various degrees of success but have all ultimately ended in failure, which I can directly correlate to lack of interest. That’s lack of interest on my part and it’s not that I’m not interested in having a blog, it’s just that, as with much in my life, I get interested in a topic for a bit and then like a kid with a shiny new toy I’m off onto something else.

Classic example is my recording studio. I built myself a really cool recording studio; a space I can call my own last year. Ask me how much recording I’ve done in it? I played around in it for a few weeks and then got sidetracked.

So in analyzing my past habits (blogging and otherwise) it seems I’ve landed on a topic for the day: my apparent inability to focus on one thing for extended periods of time. I’m sure if I was a kid they’d fill me up with Ritalin in this ADD age. I think this is why the Getting Things Done (GTD) system appeals to me because it helps me keep things that are important to me in the right context and I don’t feel as overwhelmed in my head trying to think of things to do.

For example, I have a bunch of song ideas in my head, but by the time we get the kids to bed I’m usually not in the mood to go down to the studio. Instead I tend to play Guitar Hero (beat Slash on hard last night finally) or veg out in front of the TV. With this GTD system, I’ve started jotting notes down as I have them. For example, an idea or a lyric may come to me, so I write it down instantly and file it under my @Studio list, which is a list of all the things I want to do in my studio. Then when I have the energy or desire to do some recording, I have a list of things to pull from to get me started.
 

How Are You Doing?

I, like most people, get asked this question a lot, but I don’t know how to respond. The question itself has become more of a substitute greeting as opposed to an actual query into how I’m actually doing.

When someone asks this question, do they really want to know the answer? I usually respond “fine”. Do people really want to know how I’m doing?

I could answer today: my back hurts for the 60-something straight day, I’m overly stressed at work, I’m coming down with a cold. I could probably answer like that every day… I’d certainly come off as a downer, huh?

That’s odd too, because I’m typically a positive and upbeat person (sprinkled with a healthy dose of cynicism and sarcasm).

Turning this back on myself, when I ask “how are you doing” I really want to know the answer. How do most people feel about this question? Fine?

Starbucks shuts down for three hours - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

Wha??? Why is this national news? And why am I blogging about it? Starbucks is apparently shutting down nationwide for 3 hours tonight. Some competing chains are offering free coffee during that time, apparently.

Starbucks shuts down for three hours - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

HILLARY IS MOM JEANS

An amusing site to waste time on…

HILLARY IS MOM JEANS

GTDInbox :: Firefox Add-ons

I’ve been introduced to the Getting Things Done practice introduced by David Allen (http://www.davidco.com) which has been a big help in boosting my productivity and lessening my stress.

I found today a plugin to FireFox that integrates the GTD workflow into the GMail client. I’m already using the MS Outlook plugin for GTD, which is fantastic, so I’m not sure I want two systems. I’ll give it a shot though and see what I think.

One major advantage the MS Outlook plugin has is that it creates Outlook Tasks for all actions so that they automatically sync with my PocketPC so when I’m home or out running errands I can scan my list of Next Actions quickly.

GTDInbox :: Firefox Add-ons

Another toy to drool over

It seems that every time Apple comes out with something new, it becomes an obsession for me. The latest (well, it’s been out for a few weeks) is the MacBook Air. This thing looks phenomenal.

 

Of course I have no real practical use for it right now. My recording studio is all set up on a PC that I built myself and none of my recording software (for which I have shelled out big bucks) will work on an Intel Dual-Core processor.

 

But it’s cool…

 

 

Happy Birthday Pauline

So I’m jumping back into the world of blogging again for the bazillionth time. I’d like to announce my return by wishing my lovely wife Pauline the happiest of birthdays.

Today is another day besmirched with endless meetings. All it seems that I do everyday is sit in meetings or conference calls. I suppose I’d feel better about it if I felt that I was actually accomplishing something productive or worthwhile.