View allAll Photos Tagged Lifehacker
My workspace. Sorry about the cramped pictures, but the room that has become my office is tiny. I needed a desk that would be usable for design work, music, and gaming.
My solution was to build a very shallow desk (it's about 9 inches deep or so) with a sliding drawer that could be puled out when needed, and tucked away
The whole thing is bracketed to the wall, is a work in progress. The best part is 95% of the materials I had sitting around my house.
And if i need to make a modification, I don't feel bad about taking the jigsaw to it.
The keyboard is quite new, and I've cleared off significant amounts of desk clutter that has built up. Now with a few simple movements I have a large portion of my desk clear and ready to work. The desk is a few months old but still newer then any previous photos, and the increased space is to die for. Just on the edge of the right side of the photo you can see my dresser which has a small file rack for recent files. Anything not in current use is boxed, in a sort of hybrid GTD method. My inbox is to the left.
I am, paradoxically, posting this desktop both despite and because of the fact that my setup has not changed in any meaningful way for several months now. "Despite," in that I feel bad about not posting more often. Most of my spare time has been annexed by another large creative project, and I miss the unbroken hours of Rainmeter tweaking I used to do. "Because," in that there is still some value in taking stock of this setup: it has proven itself as a highly practical, unobstrusive, and all-around great arrangement. I just love it the way it is, and like all the best designs, it makes me feel like I want to use my notebook, and that it's going to do exactly what I want it to do.
For the first time since Lightning Sunset, I'm going to go through my entire arsenal of core applications and detail how they're being used and why.
(By the way, there's another reason why I feel like showing off my computer today: I just received a RAM upgrade, from 1 GB to 2 GB. I swear, it's halfway to a brand new computer. Even with all of the stuff below - every single one, running simultaneously - I don't break a 50% memory load. It is geekily glorious.)
- - - - - - -
As anyone who follows my desktops knows, I go through wallpapers pretty rapidly, while having a few favorites that I regularly return to. This has become one of them. I love the style of having a single crisp, asymmetrical object surrounded by a simple, subtle gradient. It's a great synthesis of the functional and the aesthetic; fresh and stimulating, without being distracting or gaudy. (Via cain.)
- - - - - - -
I really love this visual style for XP; it's become one of lassekongo83's most popular, and deservedly so. Its most distinguishing feature, one which is inexplicably rare among Windows shell themes, is that it inverts the colors, giving Explorer, Notepad, etc. a dark-gray background against light-gray text. It is wonderfully soft on the eyes, especially late at night.
Of equal importance, it also finally makes Windows itself match the light-on-dark theme common to my Rainmeter, Firefox, et al. I think it was nitzua who pointed out that some of the most carefully-crafted desktop themes are shattered the minute you open the start menu. So it's a real pleasure to have a genuinely customized work environment, not just the illusion of one.
Aside from those, I'm just enamored of its simple grays. Lakrits is a legitimately minimalist VS, and I'll miss it muchly when I make the jump to Windows 7.
- - - - - - -
Startups
- Start Killer.
- D-Color.
These really haven't changed since the Lightning Sunset days. I wrote an individual paragraph for each of them before I realized that I was just repeating myself from 16 months ago. The common thread here is that they're all tiny apps which enhance the taskbar and the desktop in extremely logical, intuitive, "I can't believe it didn't do this by itself" ways.
- - - - - - -
Virtual Shell
- Autohotkey.
- Rainmeter. Skins: Enigma 2.6, customized.
It's these three apps which really change the way I use my notebook. As you probably know, I use Autohotkey to
- Launch core apps, documents and settings with universal hotkeys. (Firefox is Win+F, Thunderbird is Win+T, Notepad is Win+N, Google Wave is Win+W, etc.) In addition, the other two get very prominent hotkeys as befits their status: I can start up Launchy with Win+F11, and Rainmeter with Win+F12.
- Adjust the transparency of the active window and taskbar.
- Minimize, maximize, restore, and Alt+Tab using only the Alt key and the mouse.
- Control iTunes with universal hotkeys.
- Send certain commonly-used phrases when triggered, ala Texter.
Launchy, meanwhile, does pretty much everything else. My devout adoration of Launchy has never wavered. Summoning any app, folder, document, control panel module, song, picture, video, theme, log, and search engine in less than ten keystrokes? Win. (And I still use Calcy all the time, too.)
Rainmeter, by now, speaks for itself. See the notes for more details. The only thing that deserves specific mention is that Rainmeter no longer requires assistance from a third-party app like Desktop Coral to reserve space at the edge of the screen. You can now redefine the coordinates of Windows' desktop work area in your theme file. Basically, I used to require three apps - Rainmeter, CD Art Display, and Desktop Coral - to achieve this effect. Now I can do it in one.
- - - - - - -
With my new RAM upgrade (and please accept my half-hearted apology for going on about it), it really costs me nothing to keep this light, attractive three-dimensional desktop manager running at all times. It activates when the mouse enters either bottom corner, so the overall perception is one of physically rotating the cube - very intuitive, I've found.
- - - - - - -
Trillian
Trillian, like Launchy, may as well be a startup app. I keep it running all the time, even when playing games or watching movies. I can't stand being out of digital contact; it's like living without a phone. These days, I use Trillian to connect to Skype and Twitter, as well, which only reaffirms its value to me: the more tasks a single app can cover, the more I love it.
The reason I can't abide Miranda or Pidgin is that neither (as far as I can tell) is capable storing logs in a plaintext, single-file format. This is a necessity for me, since I'm constantly looking up messages from old conversations, even months or years later, and nothing beats bringing it up in three strokes with Launchy and searching directly in Notepad.
- - - - - - -
Dropbox
I've tried a lot of synchronization and backup services in the past. Before Dropbox, I was a big fan of a Firefox extension (I can't remember the name) which let you upload files directly to your Gmail account space. My desire for this genre can be summed up as "a USB stick in the cloud," and Dropbox is the first one that I've kept and used for over a year. It's perfect, and as the storage capacity increases over time, so does my loyalty.
- - - - - - -
iTunes & Last.fm
I know you all hate iTunes. I don't blame you, I'm just convinced that we're not actually using the same program. I don't know what I'm doing differently, but on my laptop, iTunes and its library (3500+ songs now) load in under 5 seconds, handle just as smoothly as Firefox, and do virtually everything I want a media player to do. I keep trying alternatives - I actually haven't yet uninstalled Songbird after trying the new version last week - but as long as iTunes ain't broken, I have no desire to fix it.
Last.fm, on the other hand, is an experiment. I'm simply interested in keeping track of my music listening habits and comparing them with others'. The scrobbler does its thing and never interferes with my work in any way, so for the moment I'm happy to give it a home. It loads automatically with iTunes, too, which is nice - one less thing to worry about.
- - - - - - -
Thunderbird 2.0
I have not upgraded to Thunderbird 3. I kept trying it with each beta release, and then the final version, and I was quite disappointed each time. As it stands, the interface is quite bulky, the folder labels are inexplicably verbose. The "Smart Folders" really bulk up the "unread" view, too, which is pretty ironic, since I've always relied on it to serve as my condensed, consolidated reading list. As if that wasn't enough, it also insists on synchronizing virtually all of my email, including the spam folders - which also appear in the "unread" view. I admit, I'd like to be able to view flash applets without having to open feed items in Firefox, but it's just not enough to beat the cons.
So I'm sticking with 2.0 for the time being. Like iTunes, Thunderbird simply meets all my requirements. It is my consummate message center: all five of my email accounts synchronized via IMAP, plus my RSS feeds, all together in one simple view. I use exactly one extension: Minimize to Tray, which lets me keep Thunderbird available at all times without taking up valuable taskbar space.
At some point, I do hope to have Thunderbird (email/RSS), Trillian (IM/IRC/Twitter) and Google Wave integrated into a single elegant client. I'm sure the day is coming. But for now, I feel I've brought them together on my system in the most efficient way available to me.
- - - - - - -
Until Thunderbird or Trillian get a Wave plugin, I can't say no to this lovely little tray app. Like Last.fm, it does its job and minds its own business, and it does both so damn well that it passed my stringent filters with surprising ease.
- - - - - - -
Firefox
My Firefox is still pretty much as seen here: just a box with an address bar. I use keyboard shortcuts to toggle my bookmarks and menubar, and, naturally, back/forward. Additionally, I use keywords to access search engines - for example, to Google "Lifehacker," I just type "g lifehacker". Once you get used to it, it saves an awful lot of time.
While I did jump on the Awesome Bar bandwagon for the first few months, I'm now trying to bookmark more aggressively. This is because, when my history and cache are clear, Firefox loads in under one second. It beats Chrome on my system. You just can't beat that.
I do want to mention something to users of Lazarus Form Recovery, an extension that I heartily recommend. It's saved me, on numerous occasions, from losing hours and hours of writing. However, 99% of the time, it's something I'd written just minutes prior, and lost due to a crash; I've never needed to recover something days or weeks after the fact. So I strongly recommend clearing your Lazarus cache (which is kept separately from the main Firefox cache) and setting it to purge saved forms if they're older than a week or so. Before I realized this, Firefox sometimes took up to a minute and a half to load, no matter what else I tried to speed it up. Now, as I mentioned, it freaking beats Chrome at its own game.
- - - - - - -
I am currently running virtually all of these apps. Firefox has a dozen tabs, I've got four conversations in Trillian, and iTunes is playing the score of The Thin Red Line. And I'm clocking in at a whopping 40% memory use. RAM is cool.
- - - - - - -
Merry Christmas. :)
Note: this photo was published in an Oct 13, 2010 blog titled "What You Can Learn From NFL Stars." It was also published in an undated (mid-Nov 2010) blog titled "Online Football Shirt Options." And it was published in a Dec 26, 2010 blog titled "3 Online Dating Tips For Newbies And Beginners."
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 16, 2011 blog titled "Where can I find a free online dating site?" It was also published in an undated (early Apr 2011) Online Gaming blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Apr 8, 2011 Cool Play Free Football Games Online images blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in an Apr 23, 2011 First Date Conversation blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Oct 13, 2011 blog titled "Best Mobile Sports Tracker?" It was also published in an undated (early Dec 2011) blog titled "Winning Fantasy Football Newsletter."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Feb 28, 2012 "Medical Daily" blog titled "Research: Heat-Related Deaths Triple among Football Players." It was also published in a Mar 14, 2012 blog titled "Ten Step Guide to Catching Action Shots." And it was published as one of several illustrations in an undated (late Apr 2012) Mashpedia article/blog titled "Football." It was also published in an Apr 30, 2012 blog titled "What Is Your Game Plan?" And it was published in a Jun 13, 2012 The Step Exercise Equipment blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Sep 30, 2012 blog titled "‘niners: week 3." And it was published in a Nov 27, 2012 blog titled "Can wordpress shut your site down if there are lots of inappropriate comments?"
Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Sep 30, 2014 Washington Post blog titled "The FCC Just Sacked the Sports Blackout Rule."
Moving into 2015, the photo was published in an undated (early April 2015) blog titled "Filme Motivaționale Care Trebuie Văzute: Any Given Sunday."
********************
I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that, until last night, I had never been to a professional football game in my life. Baseball, basketball, and tennis: yes, of course. High-school and college football games: sure, though that was a long time ago. Indeed, the last college football game I watched (in person) was in the mid-60s, when I was invited to the annual Harvard-Yale game by a Radcliffe student I had begun dating -- a development to which my MIT college roommate reacted, in shock, by howling, "Radcliffe? You're dating a Cliffie? She must be a pig!" After which he pulled out his flute, every time he thought she might be present when he returned to our off-campus apartment, and played "Old McDonald Had a Farm" until he collapsed in gales of laughter on the stairwell. Highly inaccurate, I hasten to note, and totally unfair. But I digress...
Anyway, a freelance writer, Mitch Ligon (whose photo you can see here in one of my Flickr sets), invited me to accompany him last night to the New York Jets - Philadelphia Eagles game out in the New Jersey Meadowlands -- another first-time experience. I was given a photographer's press pass, which gave me access to the locker rooms, press box, various other "inner sanctum" locations ... and, most important, the football field itself. I was given a red jersey to wear, told to stay outside the yellow dashed lines that ring the field, and turned loose for the evening. I felt somewhat inadequate, because I knew that the "real" professional photographers would be equipped with high-cameras and monstrous telephoto lenses beyond anything I had ever touched, or could possibly afford; and even though my Nikon D300 and 70-300mm zoom lens is fairly respectable in amateur circles, I had no idea if I would be able to take any decent photos at all...
The other problem is that I know little or nothing about the nuances of football, beyond the obvious fact that the quarterback either passes the ball, or hands off to someone who attempts to run the ball downfield. Punts and field-goal kicks are also a familiar concept, but if you don't have a good anticipatory sense of who is about to do what to whom, it's easy to miss the "moment" when the perfect shot might be available. Also, I didn't really know anything about the players, aside from the respective star quarterbacks: Philadelphia's controversial Michael Vick, and New York's newly-named starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez. I had looked at the team rosters on the Internet before the game, so at least I knew their jersey numbers (#6 for Sanchez, and #7 for Vick, as you'll see in the photos) -- but the "action" was often so far away (at the other end of the field) that I couldn't tell whether the starting quarterback, or one of the substitutes, was making the plays.
Nevertheless, by the beginning of the second quarter I was feeling a little more comfortable -- if only because I found it easy to follow along behind the other professional photographers as they marched (or ran) from one end of the field to the other, in order to get their equipment set up for what they expected would be the next great shot. By the end of the game, I had taken 1,100+ photos, including several of Michael Vick in a post-game locker-room interview; and from the sound of the clickety-click-clack of my fellow photographers, I could tell that many of them had taken several thousand. I'll spare you the technical details of my feeble attempts to get some decent shots; I had picked up some good tips from the sports-photography chapter of Scott Kelby's Digital Photography, and I did my best within the limitations of my equipment and my lack of familiarity with the situation.
What impressed me most about the whole experience was the scale of modern professional football -- the scale of everything. It's one thing to read that there are 80,000 people in a football stadium; it's another thing to actually be there and hear the simultaneous roar of those 80,000 people as a quarterback is sacked or a long pass is completed. It's one thing to read that a professional football player is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 350 pounds; it's another thing to stand next to several dozen such giants. Heck, I thought there were only 20 or 30 such giants on each team; I had no idea that there were 64 of them (a number which will be pared down as the pre-season comes to an end), or that there might be 20-30 different coaches. And then there are the hundreds of "staff members" scurrying around all over the place, carrying out their various duties and assignments; and there are the security guards and State Police, who spent most of the time scanning the stadium crowd rather than watching the players, presumably watching for scuffles or fights or ... well, who knows what. There are cheerleaders too, in this case bearing the official name of New York Jets Flight Crew; I had expected half a dozen, but there were two dozen perky, long-haired beauties, with permanently frozen smiles, who who danced and pranced before the crowd at every conceivable opportunity.
All of this has resulted in the photos you'll see in this album. I had to delete roughly a hundred of my original images, because they were out of focus, or because a referee decided to walk in front of my camera at the wrong moment; and another 900 were "okay," but not terribly exciting. I'm sure that none of them are as crisp, sharp, and well-composed as those taken by the Sports Illustrated photographer and the other professionals on the field; but I did end up with 72 "keepers" that I hope you'll enjoy...
... and, yes, I probably will attend another football game or two in the years ahead. Whether I'm lucky enough to get down on the field again is anyone's guess....
Chronodex July - December 2013 Weekly Diary Free Download Released
Chronodex friends here you go! The July to December 2013 version is released, feel free to download and plan ahead your visual scheduling for the rest of the year.
Here are some of the places you can interact with other Chronodex users:
Chronodex
Chronodex Facebook Page
Chronodex Flickr Group
The Fountain Pen Network thread about Chronodex
Lifehacker's cover of Chronodex
Yes Chronodex is kind of weird, it looks a bit too complicated, it is not like any other traditional scheduling tools, but it is inspirational and free style. I made it so as to break the rules of scheduling, most diaries/schedule books have rigid grids and timeline which limit the available space for you to write notes related to your schedule, you can use any space on the paper to link your time specific entries thus free from the traditional constraints.
Look at our beautiful cross harbour tunnel, it is a 'grid', it is 'rigid' but it works in mass transportation because it provides a system and create order. It is dull too, especially in times of traffic jam and rainy days. What you have to dissect is that there is a difference between mass order and personal creativity. Chronodex is for your personal creativity in what seems to be a rigid time system, it is for you to exploit/explore the space nobody ever made constraints of.
I've also made Chronodex a free download to share in 2011 when my father was too old and too sick lying on bed struggling, questioning himself feeling useless. We had no way to help, prayers from all of you mysteriously helped somehow IMHO, but the thing is, I wanted to prove that everything is connected, he was not and never useless, if people appreciate Chronodex, it was because of him I existed and being educated by him into a person with inquisitive mind. He should be proud of himself, even though there was no way I could convey this to him during his deterioriation. Today on the Star Ferry lower deck, I saw a grandfather holding his grandson's T-shirt looking over the harbour an European tall ship cruising by, the light tug, the togetherness and a sense of exploration made me sob inside, recalling my own exploration with Dad and his brief time with my own kid.
Tonight, Mom told me her encounter with Dad on his 140th day of passing which happens to be my little brother's birthday. A cicada was standing weakly on the floor where Dad used to stay often, she picked it up with both hands and prayed the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒), bringing it to the window seam and left it there. Minutes later, it flew away energetically full of life. The scene reminds us of the Chao Shao-an (趙少昂)'s painting which my Dad loved so much and had been on our living room wall for the longest time, AND it is Lychee season now. Can you see all the connections and emotions?
The stuffs we hold dear of, always leave impressions for people close and around us, these things are proves of our existence painted over with emotions and mysterious connections.
So this coming week, like the last, I will be out of my home town heading Shanghai for a week of intensive preparation of a new store launch. Love the travel, hate the separation, enjoying everything in between.
Meanwhile, Traveler's Notebook fans in Hong Kong had a great time in the Star Ferry ride, after-party and small meet-ups. I hope to do it more often, feel free to drop by our Facebook group. Now, follow me for a 15 seconds tranquil journey across the lovely Victoria Harbour.
More on Scription blog: scription.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/chronodex-july-decembe...
My masterpiece is never complete!
Aesthetically the Magic Mouse doesn't fit, but it is the most accurate mouse I have ever used. Tried a really nice wireless logitech that was black and gray, but the tracking was awful on it and had to return to this one.
Dual 27" Thunderbolt Displays are Daisy-Chained via 15" Macbook Pro. 1 thunderbolt plug is all I need to connect my Macbook to my workstation and the displays handle all of the USB accessories... all wires are tucked in nicely via an under the desk cable management system screwed into the wood.
-Dia de Muertos!
-Me tarde "un poco" en subirlo al los grupos pero pues ahi esta que es lo importante!
-Descripcion aqui
-Saludos!
Wallpaper
:: Eerie - The Dictionary of Image by Jason Swain
Programs
:: Rainmeter
---------Enigma by Kaelri
---------Century Gothic2 by TaipanSnake
---------HUD.vision by Mepu
:: Launchy
---------Dank by Aero
:: AutoHotkey
:: RocketDock
---------Black Leopard Icon Set by DecompositionBeauty
:: TransBar
:: TimeLeft
:: TrueTransparency
---------Haru the Suite by Aaron-A-Arts
:: Start Killer
:: Desktop Coral
:: Styler
Skins and icons modified by me for different colours
EDIT (31-10-09) Thanks Lifehacker for the feature!! Love you guys!
-Mi Vecino Totoro
-Una gran pelicula...
-¡ADVERTENCIA DE SPOILER!
-Me gusto que Totoro tuviera un pequeño cameo en Toy Story 3!
-Saludos!
Yes, it's a Macbook. Of course it's a Mac! What else would you expect a cool-looking guy like this to be using?
Note: this photo was published in an Aug 28, 2010 blog titled "DSL vs 4G Wireless Services." It was also published in a Nov 8, 2010 blog titled "Toasty Testicles From Laptops Could Make for Less Fertile Nerds." And it was published in a Nov 30, 2010 blog titled "4G set to dominate the world by 2015."
A cropped version of the photo was also published in the Sep 2010 Newsletter of the Division of Library Services at Charles Hurt University in Australia, as an illustration of a New Orientation DVD for Offshore Students. It was also published in a May 4, 2011 blog titled "How To Keep Your Laptop Cool." And it was published in a Jun 2, 2011 blog titled "Learning Challenges News." It was also published in a June 10, 2011 blog titled "The Real Social Life of Wireless Public Spaces." And it was published in a Jul 27, 2011 blog titled "CHILE: SERNAC DETECTA “CLÁUSULAS ABUSIVAS” EN SERVICIO DE INTERNET, TELEFONÍA Y TV CABLE."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in an undated (early Jan 2012) BigWig Books blog titled "Services." It was also published in a Mar 15, 2012 Lifehacker Australia blog titled "Top Five Non-Travel Uses For Wi-Fi Hotspots." It was also published in a Jun 16, 2012 blog titled "接触！｜新型MacBook Airをブログの収益だけで買ってみる【Vol.１】." And it was published in a Sep 25, 2012 blog titled "Retirement Investing for Young People."
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in an undated (early Jan 2013) blog titled "Start An Online Business." It was also published in a Feb 6, 2013 blog titled "Cursuri Office."
****************************************
I had a lunchtime dentist appointment in midtown Manhattan the other day, and when it was over, I decided to walk a couple blocks over to Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library. It was a sunny day, and I thought I might see some gorgeous babes sunbathing on the park lawn in their bikinis (even being an amateur photographer is a tough job, but someone's gotta do it). If not, I thought perhaps I'd find some photogenic tourists or oddball New Yorkers that I could photograph.
As it turns out, almost all of the central lawn was being covered over with some kind of wooden platform -- presumably for an upcoming concert performance of some kind -- so nobody was sunbathing out on the grass. But since that area was unavailable, and since it was still the lunchtime period, the periphery around the central lawn was chock-a-block with people. There's now a cafe immediately behind (i.e., to the west) of the library itself, and it was doing a land-office business. And all along the north and south sides of the park, as well as the broader western side, there were tables and chairs and benches where people could enjoy their lunch with whatever food or entertainment they had brought along.
I was already aware of the pentanque court on the western side of the park, and knew that I'd find one or two good pictures there. But I didn't realize that the Parks Department had set up two ping-pong tables, as well as several tables for chess-players. In addition, there were a few card games underway, and there was also a section set aside for people who wanted to borrow local newspapers to read.
As for the people: I had to remind myself that because Bryant Park is smack in the middle of mid-town Manhattan (a block away from Times Square, filling the square block between 41st/42nd street, and 5th/6th Avenue), most of the people enjoying their lunch were office workers. So the men typically wore slacks and dress shirts, and a surprising number of them were also wearing suits and ties. The women wore dresses and skirts, and generally looked quite fashionable and presentable. Of course, there were also tourists and students and miscellaneous others; but overall, it was a much more "upscale" bunch of people than I'm accustomed to seeing in my own residential area on the Upper West Side.
I was surprised by how many people were sitting alone -- eating alone, reading alone, listening to music alone, dozing alone, or just staring into space alone. You'll see some of them in this album, though I didn't want to over-emphasize their presence; equally important, many of the loners just weren't all that interesting from a photogenic perspective. So you'll also see lots of couples, some children, a couple of families, and occasionally larger groups of people who were eating and chatting and enjoying the warm summer day.
Three activities dominated the scene, all of which were fairly predictable, under the circumstances: eating, reading, and talking on cellphones. You would expect people to be eating at lunch-time, of course; and you wouldn't be surprised at the notion of people reading a book as they sat behind the New York Public Library on a warm, sunny day. But the pervasiveness of the cellphones was quite astonishing ... oh, yeah, there were a few laptops, too, but fewer than I might have imagined.
I've photographed Bryant Park several times over the past 40 years, going back to some photos of 1969 Vietnam War protest marches that you can see in this album. I was here in the summer of 2008 to take these photos; I came back in January 2009 to take these photos of the winter scene; and I returned again for these pictures in March 2009 and these these pictures in the late spring of 2009; all of these have been collected into a Flickr "collection" of albums that you can find here. But if you want to see what New York City's midtown office workers are doing at lunch, take a look at what's in this album.
This young woman was taking advantage of the mid-day sunshine and the warmth of the stone wall along the western edge of Riverside Park, as she listened to music and enjoyed a book...
Note: this photo was published in an Aug 12, 2009 blog titled "Summer Reading List." It was also published in an Aug 10, 2009 blog titled "fIt's Hot Outside, Let's Read A Book Instead." And it was published in a May 24, 2010 blog titled "Summer is here." It was also published in a May 31, 2010 Norwegian blog titled "Feel-good bøker til sommeren," and a Jun 29, 2010 blog titled "Tio boktips till sommaren." And it was published in a Sep 1, 2010 Trés Sugar blog titled "September Must Reads."
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in an Aug 24, 2011 blog titled "Hit a plateau in your language learning?."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in an undated (late Jul 2012) blog titled "Summer Learning Fun."
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Sep 25, 2013 French blog titled "Séjour linguistique longue durée : parer aux périodes de stagnation." It was also published in an undated (mid-November 2013) blog titled "The Science of Inspiration (and How to Make It Work for You)."
Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Mar 4, 2014 blog titled "App helpt bij 500 woorden lezen per minuut." It was also published in an Aug 17, 2014 blog titled "累積你的人生，做出更多「對」的決定 ."
*******************
I've strolled through Riverside Park on several previous occasions (click here to see a collection of approximately seven other Flickr albums of my Riverside Park photos) -- but even though the sign at the 96th Street entrance is always the same, and the pathway is always the same, the people and the individual vignettes are always different.
Sometimes it's simply a function of the weather: people dress differently, act differently, and engaged in different activities in early spring than they do in summer or late fall. But much of it simply has to do with the incredible variety of people who take advantage of the opportunity to relax, read a book, jog, or picnic with their families.
So ... this just happens to be what it looked like in Riverside Park on the last day of May, in 2009.
Wide shot showing shelves (IKEA Lack) bookcase and desk. The loft area overlooks the living room which makes it a nice place to work since you feel conected to whats going on in the home without being disturbed by it.
Some subtle changes to the setup this month; two framed pictures of my Gran getting married in 1948 (out of shot) and I managed to move the Bose tweeters to the edge of the desk
I just finished having a permanant crown installed - the fourth dental appointment in the whole Root Canal process, so I went to Starbucks with my wife to catch my breath.
Welcome to everyone clicking over from LifeHacker!
--
Camera: Minolta DYNAX 5D
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
--
A new setup.
Rainmeter, of course
Still using the Cowon clock, straight vanilla
A Mix of Enigma and Omnimo
ObjectDock on the left
Suave icons from deviant art
Cant remember where I got this wallpaper-- lifehacker I think
Stormtrooper start button
Inspired by Jason Fitzpatrick's Lifehacker post over the weekend, I got serious about making my workspace more conducive to... well, work. www.mattlumpkin.com
This is my desktop wallpaper. Based on snipurl.com/keepcalm this historical poster. Anyone interested in acquiring said desktop should contact me through Flickr. I'm happy to send out a copy. I find it especially useful during exam time, like now.
DUE TO VOLUME OF REQUESTS, if you want a copy, send an email to goyston@gmail.com with the resolution of your monitor. Thanks!
Desktop image © 2008 visual_dichotomy. No stealing without permission!
My home office for Graywolf Survival and Man Cave Zen. You can pretty much either find me here or at Starbucks almost every day.
The photo was taken with a Samsung NX300 camera, which I love, with the stock 20-50mm Lens.
The whole system is run by a Alienware computer with two ASUS monitors and a single LG 27-Inch monitor.
To the far right is an ASUS G73JH-A1 17-Inch Laptop.
The radio is actually a ham radio - a Yaesu FT-857D that I have hooked into the Bose system. There's a Yaesu VX-6R handheld next to it. Just outside the photo is a Baofeng UV5RA handheld that's just behind the left monitor.
I picked up the desk at a garage sale about 15 years ago for $50. It came from a credit union. I spend $50 in materials and reworked it. Probably about time I did that again.
The pistol is my everyday carry 1911, made in 1919 but has all match-grade insides.
Next to the pistol is a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Special Forces Posse badge.
The beer is the finest beer in the world:
Guinness Extra Stout.
To justify building the office it also had to double as a guest room. This couch folds down to make a bed.
I like to teach meditation and this couch has hosted many a guest meditator.
The work behind the couch are prints by my artistic hero Rockwell Kent. A great free spirit, writer, printmaker and painter. I keep them there to remind me not to lose my own way or my sense of adventure.
These two young women were sitting at the base of the obelisk in the center of Rome's Piazza del Popolo, consulting what appears to be a tourist map of some kind. Now they're both looking at the map, looking somewhat puzzled and frustrated...
Note: this photo was published (albeit in an incredibly tightly-cropped form) in a March 12, 2009 blog article entitled "15 Tips for Living in a Developing Country." It was also published in an Apr 17, 2009 blog titled "Tourist or Traveler - Which One Are You?" And it was published in a Jul 22, 2009 blog titled "Travel Etiquette Site Explains How To Behave In Different Countries." More recently, it was published in a Sep 14, 2009 blog titled "Tourists, Expats, and That Fragile Sense of Belonging." It was also published in a Sep 16, 2009 blog titled "Things to Know Before You Go Somewhere." And it was published in a Sep 25, 2009 blog titled "Preparación para emergencias durante viajes ."
Note: having seen that this photo has become fairly popular, I decided to "tweak" it on Sep 25, 2009 to make it a little better. I began by lightening the shadows in the woman's pants on the left, and then adjusting the "hot spots" and "cold spots" caused by too much sunlight/glare in some areas, and too much darkness in others. Not sure anyone will notice the results of this work, but trust me: it is a better photo now!
Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Jan 6, 2010 Spanish blog titled "Diversos estilos de turistas." And it was published in a Jun 30, 2010 blog titled "Friends Are Good For Your Health." It was also published in a Jul 20, 2010 blog titled "How to Avoid Travel Scams." And it was published in an Aug 10, 2010 blog titled "Does the Lower Haight Exist?" It was also published in the Sep 15, 2010 issue of the Stuff Hipsters Hate blog, in an article titled "Not Knowing Where the Party At." And it was published in an undated (mid-Oct 2010) Women's Tuxedos blog, with the same title as the caption I put on this Flickr page, as well as another mid-October 2010 Women's Tuxedo blog titled "Tuxedo T Shirts – Fun for the Modern Family." It was also published in a Nov 7, 2010 blog titled "16 tips for safe trips," and a Nov 11, 2010 blog titled "PMS Relief Is Like The Heaven For The Women."
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 14, 2011 "Frugal Mom" blog, with the same title and detailed notes as what I had written here on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Mar 3, 2011 blog titled "Razones para volver a un destino." And it was published in a Mar 6, 2011 blog titled "Compañeros de ruta (LXVII)." It was also published in a May 6, 2011 blog titled "Le guide di viaggio su carta servono ancora?" And it was published in an undated (early Jun 2011) RomeCityTrip-dot-com blog titled "Map." And I discovered that it was published in an Apr 24, 2011 blog titled "Business Travel Tips for your Next Trip," as well as a Jun 7, 2011 blog titled "Frugal Living and Health." And it was published in an Aug 14, 2011 Resource Blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in a Nov 14, 2011 blog titled "Blend In in a Foreign Country."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a blog titled "How to travel with friends (and not want to kill them)." It was also published in a May 30, 2012 blog titled www.gadling.com/2012/05/30/how-to-avoid-looking-like-a-to... And it was published in a Sep 25, 2012 blog titled "Chile registró récord de visitantes extranjeros en agosto." It was also published in a Nov 21, 2012 blog titled "В Краснодаре откроются инфоцентры для туристов."
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 18, 2013 "The folly of an itinerary." And it was published in a Jan 20, 2013 blog titled "How To Get The Most Out Of A Short Vacation." It was also published in a Jan 28, 2013 blog titled "HOW TO BRING THE MAGIC OF TRAVEL TO THE DAILY GRIND: PART I." And it was published in a Feb 14, 2013 blog titled "Top Tips For Safe Travel." It was also published in an Apr 5, 2013 blog titled "‘Gutsy Women' Book In its Fourth Edition." And it was published in a Jul 17, 2013 blog titled "10 tips to avoid getting robbed while travelling."
Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Mar 14, 2014 blog titled "会社の歓迎会で面白い自己紹介をするためには？――「2つのおすすめ」と「1つのNG」 ." And it was published in a May 17, 2014 blog titled "Poster: Learning is a Companion.." It was also published in a Sep 26, 2014 blog titled "Who’s a tourist? How a culture of travel is changing everyday life."
Moving into 2015, the photo was published in a Mar 17, 2015 blog titled "6 ways to embarrass yourself in Europe."
***********************
These photos were taken during a week in Rome, at the beginning of December 2008. I was participating in a computer conference, but had some free time at the beginning and end of the trip; unfortunately, the weather was not very cooperative, and my photography efforts were sometimes interrupted by rain...
Future workspace in the making
Will post updates as they evolve.
In the left armoire will be a built in cumputer/home server.
Hope you like it! :)
Edit: Thanks to lifehacker.com for featuring my desktop! (: lifehacker.com/5815254/dark-wood-desktop
For the Wallpaper, I just got it from wallbase.cc and just adjust the brightness using photoshop because it's a bit dark. Here's the link for the wallpaper: wallbase.cc/wallpaper/493221
And as for the dock icons: I used the Opacity Folder Set from here thvg.deviantart.com/art/Opacity-Folders-Set-83395313 and the dock that i used is from here pritthish.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=iDock#/d1jq8zu
For the geektool day and date, it's the usual geektool commands that i used.
For the time: I separated them so its easy to put them in each of the boxes.
For the weather: I used this shell command that i got from this tutorial: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFkW1lLxtU
For the Now Playing(itunes): I got this applescript from this missionitgroup.com/blog/?p=2008
My workspace. Sorry about the cramped pictures, but the room that has become my office is tiny. I needed a desk that would be usable for design work, music, and gaming.
My solution was to build a very shallow desk (it's about 9 inches deep or so) with a sliding drawer that could be puled out when needed, and tucked away
The whole thing is bracketed to the wall, is a work in progress. The best part is 95% of the materials I had sitting around my house.
And if i need to make a modification, I don't feel bad about taking the jigsaw to it.
Used:
- different Wallpapers from Slurpaza @ deviantART
- Rainmeter
- Rainmeter-Skin Enigma
# Sidebar: Graphs for System & Network; Volume Control
# Taskbar: Feed-Reader 1-3 in "Mini-Mode"
# Shadow Opacitiy set to 20; Sidebar Width set to 200; Maximum Text Width set to 700
- Rainmeter-Skin Circuitous - Recycle Bin
- Rainmeter-Skin Soul - Seperate Task Launcher (adjusted vor alternating greylevels)
- Rainmeter-Skin Elegance2 - Clock & Date
- Rainmeter-Skin Elementary - Weather
- Rainmeter-Skin DINAJ - "Do You Need A Jacket"
- Rainmeter-Skin Arcs - well... shows pretty much everything
- Fences to hide Desktop Icons
Textbooks? Digital. Teaching tools? iPad. Filing cabinet? Dropbox.
This is my simple little modern teacher home workspace. I am plugged in, connected to my work, students, and my learning network online. Plus I have space to work when I do have papers to grade. And yes, that is Mickey Mouse holding my wires.
Twitter: @mjfagioli
Blog: techwhys.wordpress.com
My desk in all its beauty! This is one of the simplest Ikea desks around, which is why I enjoy it so much. Pictures of my loved ones on the wall to my left. The MBP has the power cord on the left and external monitor on the right.
Those three prints are of James Dean and are screen prints that I made. Again, the idea came from lifehacker.
lifehacker.com/software/diy/how-to-screen-print-a-tshirt-...
This is a screen capture from Delicious Network Explorer, which is looks like the "web sites as HTML graph," but shows your del.icio.us network instead. It's built with a language called Processing.
www.twoantennas.com/projects/delicious-network-explorer/
The big circles close to me represent Joshua Schacter (big network) and Warren Ellis.
Tommy is the one who had the patience to drill down this deep into the app.
Also thanks to Lifehacker for using this image in a January 2008 post on social networking post on social networking
OS: Windows 10
Rainmeter
Skins
-MinimalOne Weather(Heavily Modified)
Modified MinimalOne Weather by misterjosh is available here.
Here's the completed desk that i made with my computers. When building it i took a lot from previous desks i've seen on the Lifehacker workplace features.
A little bit about why i have things the way i do. I love the look of raised monitors along with the fact that it clears up more space. I'm a student so having space is a necesity and something i didn't have with my old desk. My old desk only had enough room to hold my two monitors nothing else. On the right i have a spare monitor along with a mouse and keyboard that i use to tinker and fix computers with. Having that is a godsend for me because i am constantly breaking stuff. Also by the speaker on the left i have that 4 port usb hub that lays flat on the desk that was on lifehacker awile ago.
My two main monitors are both 22 inch at 1680x1050. One is an Acer the other is a Samsung that has normal tv hookups that my xbox is hooked up to. The spare one is a 19 inch Acer. My main computer and my laptop are both running the windows 7 RC. My main computer is a 2.5 ghz quad core Intel with 4 gigs of ram and 2 80 gig hdd's in raid 0. My laptop is a dell xps m1530.
Chronodex July - December 2013 Weekly Diary Free Download Released
Chronodex friends here you go! The July to December 2013 version is released, feel free to download and plan ahead your visual scheduling for the rest of the year.
Here are some of the places you can interact with other Chronodex users:
Chronodex
Chronodex Facebook Page
Chronodex Flickr Group
The Fountain Pen Network thread about Chronodex
Lifehacker's cover of Chronodex
Yes Chronodex is kind of weird, it looks a bit too complicated, it is not like any other traditional scheduling tools, but it is inspirational and free style. I made it so as to break the rules of scheduling, most diaries/schedule books have rigid grids and timeline which limit the available space for you to write notes related to your schedule, you can use any space on the paper to link your time specific entries thus free from the traditional constraints.
Look at our beautiful cross harbour tunnel, it is a 'grid', it is 'rigid' but it works in mass transportation because it provides a system and create order. It is dull too, especially in times of traffic jam and rainy days. What you have to dissect is that there is a difference between mass order and personal creativity. Chronodex is for your personal creativity in what seems to be a rigid time system, it is for you to exploit/explore the space nobody ever made constraints of.
I've also made Chronodex a free download to share in 2011 when my father was too old and too sick lying on bed struggling, questioning himself feeling useless. We had no way to help, prayers from all of you mysteriously helped somehow IMHO, but the thing is, I wanted to prove that everything is connected, he was not and never useless, if people appreciate Chronodex, it was because of him I existed and being educated by him into a person with inquisitive mind. He should be proud of himself, even though there was no way I could convey this to him during his deterioriation. Today on the Star Ferry lower deck, I saw a grandfather holding his grandson's T-shirt looking over the harbour an European tall ship cruising by, the light tug, the togetherness and a sense of exploration made me sob inside, recalling my own exploration with Dad and his brief time with my own kid.
Tonight, Mom told me her encounter with Dad on his 140th day of passing which happens to be my little brother's birthday. A cicada was standing weakly on the floor where Dad used to stay often, she picked it up with both hands and prayed the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒), bringing it to the window seam and left it there. Minutes later, it flew away energetically full of life. The scene reminds us of the Chao Shao-an (趙少昂)'s painting which my Dad loved so much and had been on our living room wall for the longest time, AND it is Lychee season now. Can you see all the connections and emotions?
The stuffs we hold dear of, always leave impressions for people close and around us, these things are proves of our existence painted over with emotions and mysterious connections.
So this coming week, like the last, I will be out of my home town heading Shanghai for a week of intensive preparation of a new store launch. Love the travel, hate the separation, enjoying everything in between.
Meanwhile, Traveler's Notebook fans in Hong Kong had a great time in the Star Ferry ride, after-party and small meet-ups. I hope to do it more often, feel free to drop by our Facebook group. Now, follow me for a 15 seconds tranquil journey across the lovely Victoria Harbour.
More on Scription blog: scription.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/chronodex-july-decembe...
Not running anything fancy, just creating a proof of concept desktop with Rainmeter. I'll probably keep refining this; right now it's edited down to only the items I'm interested in keeping an eye on.
The dinosaur text and lines are all in one .ini file, but each "handwritten" text is individually draggable so I don't have to fuss too much with x and y positioning if I want to change the dinosaur text to something else, or if I want to switch the placement of the RAM and the temperature.
My favorite part is that as my battery dies, so does my confidence in my pet lizard.
EDIT: !!! Thank you so much, Lifehacker!!! I'm completely bowled over with surprise!
A few notes: The pen and Mad Libs header are part of the wallpaper itself. The dinosaur body text (swiped and modified from Simple English Wikipedia) is a long, tedious .ini file; the "DINOSAURS" title is another .ini file; and each red system statistic is a separate .ini file for maximum flexibility. (Come to think of it, though, putting the body text in the wallpaper would be easier than futzing with the .ini files.)
EDIT 2: I made a pack for this. Let me know if you run into any bugs or if I forgot something!
Lifehacker inspired my wife and I to reorganize our workstations. She's a partner at an online company and I sometimes work from home We split the room into 2 and tried to "unify" the space with our unique flavors on each side of the room.
My girlfriend has been begging for me to make her a desktop so I finally got around to making it lol. She liked everything I had on my desktop but didn't understand half of it so I only put the basic Geektool scripts she would need on there. :) The text on the desktop is created with Geektool. The icons are a mix of several different packs. Finally the taskbar is changed using Magnifique and theme Milky Giaia. The links for everything is down below. The Album art is put on the desktop using Coversutra.
Geektool
projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/
Magnifique
magnifiqueapp.com/
Yahoo Widgets
widgets.yahoo.com/
Weather Widget
widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widescapeweather
Battery Widget
widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/wdscp-battery
CoverSutra
www.sophiestication.com/coversutra/
Wallpaper
raindropmemory.deviantart.com/art/Night-Sky-always-Shine-...
Icons
raindropmemory.deviantart.com/art/In-Spirited-We-Love-Ico...
raindropmemory.deviantart.com/art/Summer-Love-Cicadas-Ico...
raindropmemory.deviantart.com/art/Harmonia-Pastelis-Icon-...
raindropmemory.deviantart.com/art/Red-Little-Shoes-Icon-s...
Fonts
www.dafont.com/stripes-and-bubbles.font
www.dafont.com/starguides.font
Geektool Scripts
Time
date "+%l:%M %p"
Date Number
date +%d
Month
date +%B
Weekday
date +%A
Calendar
cal
To Do List
Create a text file with TextEdit but make sure you click Format>Make Plain Text before save. Then select the file in path in GeekTool.
Weather
curl --silent "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=XXXXX&u=f" | grep -E '(Current Conditions:|F<BR)' | sed -e 's/Current Conditions://' -e 's///' -e 's///' -e 's///' -e 's///' -e 's///' -e 's///'
Replace XXXXX with your zip code
If you have any questions please just leave a comment and I'll gladly give you all the help I can.
Thanks