Journal

Helping people

2012-02-14T21:45:38Z

My shoulder is throbbing and aching, my body is twitching, but the following is important to me.

I'm too tired and hurting too much to be eloquent and concise, so I hope this makes sense. (I want to write more about dealing with disability instead of taking time to edit this later)

I don't know where I'd be or how bad things would get if I didn't have tons of help and support from family, friends and even strangers. Tiny acts of kindness (that I used to overlook) now seem incredibly significant and even life-changing to me. I don't get out of the apartment much anymore, but I know that many people are even more isolated. I sincerely want to help and connect those people, and hopefully pay it forward, offering some kind of tip, tool, or encouragement that makes life better for someone else.

A lot of my knowledge comes from what I've read.

This "project" is work-in-progress, ever-changing, evolving... and massive — not something to be accomplished alone. If you'd like to help, please do; let me know — you don't have to help directly — maybe you have your own disability blog or know of one, can refer someone or link something beneficial. The Internet offers amazing accessibility but is also filled with scams and misinformation that create fear, uncertainty and stereotypes. The web is part of our legacy, and good people shouldn't stay silent and idle.

Closing comments: some stuff I use to share and stay (somewhat) sane.

Some of my iOS favorites: Noteshelf, ThinkBook, iA Writer, Evernote, SketchBook Pro, Infinite SketchPad and Wunderlist. It'll probably take awhile, but when I'm able, I'll setup a page to list my favorite iOS & Mac apps (with reviews/notes) — particularly apps that I think can help disabled people. I'll try to link tutorials as well.

I use Tumblr and Clibe, Instagram and now, MUJI Notebook. I like Hipstamatic as well, and iPhone photography with the olloclip (available online or at Best Buy). Let me know if you want an invite to my Clibe notebook.

Touch Tablets & Muji Notebook Inkblogging

2012-02-14T18:46:14Z

The iPad 2 really is a marvelous thing. Even though I can't sit at my desk for more than a few minutes (without tremendous pain), I can write, draw and read on a computer that feels as fast as any notebook or desktop I've used. However, recently — not so much — crazy back-and-forth, sunny-cloudy weather has been giving me migraines, keeping me down, eyes-closed.

Note: (Though it isn't unique to Squarespace) I really love Squarespace's scheduled post feature. When I'm feeling okay, I can write a few blog entries and let Squarespace automatically post them at preset times. That's what I've been doing... I think it's a worthy tip to pass along. (I remember using a similar feature with WordPress; Tumblr has it as well, and I'm pretty sure post major blogging tools/engines have the ability.)

iPad & Tablet Thoughts

iPad capacitive multi-touch is stellar for just about everything except art and design; without a pressure-sensitive digitizer (something like Wacom Penabled or N-Trig), variable line weight (thickness) can only be determined by speed. For artists, dual-input slate tablets are ideal, (active digitizer and capacitive touch) such as Windows 7 devices: ASUS Eee Slate EP121 (or B121) and the Samsung Series 7 tablet. I really want one; even with Windows 8 and the iPad 3 on the horizon.

Art makes me happy. I like creating; designing, doodling, sketching, illustrating, composing. I love mixed media; ink and watercolor, charcoal and paint, handwriting and blogging! Drawing helps my mood and writing helps my memory, and the iPad 2 is like my (virtually) unending, lightweight note/sketchbook. If sharing is caring, why not share what I care about?

To be continued — second part in three hours!

Status Update

2012-02-13T17:30:44Z

Hi. I have a lot to cover here.

Also, please excuse the 2009-2010 layout/colors. I'm setting up a new one... it just takes awhile because I can't do it laying down (literally, laying down).

Note: this may not be interesting/relevant if you don't know me on some kind of personal level. Feel free to browse other things. Enjoy picture of cats in boxes, or look at this inkblog post. Or these assorted images including Hipstamatic iPhone 4 pics (more soon). And join Zurker, a social network you can own so we can become friends.

Miscellaneous personal stuff:

I think the satsuma mandarin orange season is at an end. Thanks to Chow Lafayette, I've managed to get almost 30lbs of oranges per week since December. Luckily, California has a lot of raspberries!
This crazy Bay Area weather has been giving me daily migraines. Sometimes lasting up to 20 hours, I haven't had much relief. I think my migraines have been triggered by barometric pressure changes.
I've been studying/trying to play Chess. Until recently, I hadn't had much interest in the game, but I played Go, then Gomoku, and that led me to Chess.
I dig Shortmail. Using their iPhone app and my Twitter, @bradtastic, I setup simplified email in one minute. This format is based on the Email Charter — principles to eliminate email overload — found here.

Blog consolidation; goodbye, TypePad.

I've wanted to like TypePad since using MovableType at AIS, years ago. I just... don't. I want to like it; it's got a good team behind it, some interesting features, but poor layouts and themes. I don't know enough programming to make my own, and with time constraints and constant pain, I won't be learning anytime soon. Learning programming isn't just reading, it's trial & error — and not accomplished easily on the iPad.

So unless SAY:Media or someone is willing to pay for my disability blog, I'll be moving the content here. This isn't ideal, but it'll be easier to maintain. It also means gaming info and iOS app reviews will be mixed together with information on my condition.

For now, I'll keep the domain names — they're paid for — I'll just point them here.

Squarespace vs WordPress

I've been reading some blogging guides about setting up WordPress and other things (including Posterous and Tumblr). I want to keep writing and sharing — it's therapeutic — but I also want to keep costs down. Some blogging concerns are stability, aesthetics, typography, and file management. My goal is to share my photography, illustrations and design alongside writing. I love Squarespace's themes and CMS, but I don't care for the blogging/editing UI — it isn't touch and small-screen friendly. I adore their customer service, however.

A real iPad blogging tool, Blogsy, by fomola.

I found this app called Blogsy — subsequently communicating with it's developer/owner — and am now convinced that blogging from iPad will continue to be viable, if not someday preferred. Blogsy doesn't support Squarespace yet, but I've been told that that's a planned addition. I've used each of the services that it does support, and I'm starting to question my Squarespace convictions.

I hope to continue learning about technology and tools while I practice and strengthen my writing. I've been reluctant to share my fiction attempts, but perhaps it's time for more change.

This is a big year with Olympics, elections and Mayan doomsday ~~predictions~~ myths. Hopefully I can learn to better manage my disability and life, and share some of that — you know, before the world ends.

Note Taker HD & Adonit Jot Pro Stylus

2012-02-03T02:03:05Z

Another inkblog post for your enjoyment. Took a while to finish; spent a few minutes here and there when I was feeling slightly better. Got my Jot a few days ago... thanks! Really cool.

I don't know about Note Taker HD however, as stated in the post. If I continue to ink, it will be with something else, I'm thinking, unless I drastically change my handwriting style or technique. It's much harder to ink on iPad versus WACOM Penabled Tablet PC.

Also, join me at Zurker!

Join Zurker, a social network you can own

2012-02-02T17:31:30Z

Join me at Zurker!

Zurker is a new social network that I was invited to today, and a concept that seems very interesting. Unlike Google+ and Facebook, Zurker gives its users partial ownership of the network through vShares.

The concept seems like crowd-funding (like kickstarter) applied to a social network. Their intro video asks if you use social networks, or do they use you? Facebook sells user data to businesses, and while on the surface, this means better targeted, more relevant advertisements for users, it could be much more invasive. Just take a look at the Facebook user agreement, and tell me, do you know how to delete your account?

That's just the start. Facebook allows many applications developed by small firms to access most of your information, even when you aren't using the app. Facebook has privacy issues and has had security problems... and will again.

Zurker doesn't own your content or control your information. You can create pages for projects and businesses. The only caveat: you can only have the one account. But if you get in early, you can get more vShares, and get a nice username!

Join me.

It takes a few minutes, and hey, Zurker could be the next big thing, and you can own a piece of it! That sounds like smart long-term investing to me... and the entry fee? A few clicks, email validation, and account setup. Simple.

Six degrees of separation.

Just think, if I invite you, you invite your friends, and they invite theirs, a few more steps, and voila! everyone has a new online playground. Zurker feels like LinkedIn and Facebook together, and is designed for adults. Members will be able to vote on the direction of the network and its features. Sounds cool to me.

Whatever you decide, please let me know what you think.

Inkblogging from MUJI NOTE

2012-01-27T19:11:27Z

Used my WACOM BAMBOO capacitive touch stylus for most of the inkblog entry. Experimented with a playful handwriting style. Added a cool dual-tip brush pen to my Amazon wish list as well. Please let me know if you like the look of this entry; I'll try to keep them relevant as well. I'll save the rambling for text.

In the process of consolidating my blogs while doing some housecleaning — literally and figuratively — online and offline. Stuff has a way of piling up, and with the nerve problems and myoclonus, cleaning and organizing is slow (and very painful). It reminds me of the tortoise and the hare.

iPad inkblog attempt, 2012

2012-01-27T06:25:06Z

I really don't know how this will turn out. I miss inkblogging, however. If you like it, please let me know.

Ready, Set, Wonderful

2012-01-26T19:12:28Z

On occasion, I think I'm thinking too much.

I see a commercial for a new cereal, something about raisins or cranberries, the commercial isn't important to me — I'm not buying. But then I think, "berries!" immediately think of raspberries — how good they taste and why that is — ethyl formate. Naturally, it's impossible for me to think about raspberries without thinking about Star Trek. (most recently, the synergistic nature of TNG, DS9 and Voyager, and the dichotomous, Enterprise).

This connection exists because ethyl formate is the unique substance that adds vibrancy to the cosmos, the splashes of color we see from our little blue ball (aided by a telescope not-so-small). When I think of space, I think of deep space, and there's only way we could get there within a lifetime (and maybe get back): warp drive. I think warp drive, I think Star Trek... but not Star Wars. 'Wars happened a long time ago in a galaxy (other than ours) too far away to be relevant. (Geek joke)

Here I sit; in pain but able to focus and filter extraneous thought, but why? I am trapped by known and undiagnosed disabilities, unseen and difficult to quantify — I feel restrained by intangible chords of various lengths and strengths. At times, I can go for a short drive or walk; at times, I can't leave my bed — my freedom is retarded — but I don't let it stifle my mind. (There is something, ineffable to me, that could one day take from me the use of my favorite abilities, but presently, it's immaterial.)

Insert interesting segue, here. Hah. I almost wrote Segway. I could really use one of those.

At times I envy people with musical talent; specifically the ability to compose and sing. I lack those talents, and haven't developed any knack.

I can write a poem, but without a voice, I feel that it lacks empathy. I could draw, paint, maybe even sculpt; but I won't achieve the emotion delivered in song. Perhaps that's human nature — and why record sales and radio plays outnumber museum visits and talk radio shows.

I think a song could give me a branch to climb, a tree to lean on, and a stance against my condition. Maybe with a voice, I could build a connection to the world beyond my apartment walls. Then again, I've heard that the grass is always greener on the other side...

Isolation stimulates creativity but not necessarily relevance.

From outside, what a crazed, irrational mess my mind might seem. I put pen to paper or digital ink to tablet, share the result, and people say, "Wow, that's really cool... ummm... what's it supposed to be? What does that mean?" Sometimes people read my writing and conclude that I'm asynchronous with reality (sounds nicer than crazy); I hear second-hand, "what the heck is he talking about?" and think, it makes sense to me. Then I think what are they thinking, what kinds of secrets are locked in their minds, what are they afraid to share? Meanwhile, I visualize glass houses, all nearly identical, lined up in rows running down suburban streets and spread across a vast landscape like sheep across a field.

I'm not the crazy one, you are!
No, you're the crazy one, not me!
I'm crazy?! I'm not the one who...
– an excerpt from a conversation between him and himself.

Like Yin and Yang, I see an upside with every downside. Trying to make the best of something bad, finding the silver-lining (ooh, a cliché!), I attempt to convert disability and chronic pain into ideas and use the downtime to stimulate thought. Somewhere, in agony, I've lost my filter. I say things, occasionally (maybe often) annoying people — ruffling feathers (another one!) — because I want to promote exploration and generate new questions.

Once on a blue moon (hat trick!) I'll inspire or impress someone directly. However, I've also been told, more than once, that my writing is excessive, convoluted, or entirely unwanted. (I know, ouch.)

Mostly, negative comments remind me of cereal commercials for some-new-something, advertised as better than ever, while undoubtedly still made from the same grains and ingredients as the old stuff. That old, rebranded breakfast, complete with orange juice, milk and assorted fruit —surrounded by a fake family that never stops smiling — makes me think of berries...

Fire alarm at 2am

2012-01-22T19:31:20Z

So, in case you haven't seen my Bradtastic tumblr, here's a recap.

Around 2AM Saturday morning, the building's fire alarm was triggered. Slightly disoriented, I wondered if it was a drill; no, not at 2 in the morning... perhaps a false alarm? It keeps buzzing, at maybe 150db. I check my phone — no call from the building.

So I grab a few important items, grab scarves and a sweatshirt and head down the stairs. Floor after floor, I see no one else, until halfway down, one person joins us. At the bottom, exhausted, we meet up with a small, confused crowd; a moment later, we're out the door and into the rain.

A few dozen people are loosely gathered in front of the building, alarms blaring — making conversation difficult — not that anyone knew what was going on. No sign of a fire, however.

The Oakland Fire Department took over thirty minutes to arrive; by then, dozens more joined us in the cold, wind and rain. It takes another half-hour to determine the cause of the alarm — we were told that it came from the roof. More time passes, and the verdict is in.

It wasn't a false alarm... it was deliberate.

Some asshole pulled the alarm on floor 15 "as a joke," we were told. Firemen gave the all clear, and people started heading back up. I wasn't at all amused. Someone could have been hurt during the evac; while certainly preferable to an actual fire or emergency, the joke scared children and pets and wore me out. I'm still aching.

I hope the perpetrator/s get/s caught.

Happy New Year! 2012

2012-01-01T04:17:29Z

Kiss 2011 goodbye, welcome 2012. I think it'll be a better year. Still trying to deal with the disability. I'll try to be easier to reach in he new year; no guarantees, however. With the nerve problems, it's hard to "do" sometimes.

Talk to you next year!