Kris Allen came from behind to beat the favorite Adam Lambert tonight on American Idol.
In a stunning reversal, Simon Cowell praised both finalists on their performances and momentarily shed his tough-guy image.
Idol fans can get commemorative Official American Idol Fan Merchandise at Teesed.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Pay Yourself First
There are only so many hours in the day. It's a thought that crosses my mind constantly. In fact, if I'd stop thinking about that, I might actually find another hour or two.
While the finite amount of time we have might be seen as an obstacle by some, it really is a blessing. Without knowing we only have so much time, would we ever get around to doing the important things? Or would we squander our time on daytime soaps, computer games, X-box, napping and the like?
The fact that we can only put off the things we MUST do for so long, we are pushed closer and closer to the cliff from which we know we have to jump as each hour comes to a close.
So in the battle for our time, who wins? Unfortunately it's also the squeeky wheel that gets the grease of time. What problem is shouting out the most? The bills? The kid's fever? The laundry in the hallway? The neighbor's dog that won't stop barking? The project with the closest deadline or the one with the biggest budget or the loudest boss? Somewhere in this high stakes poker game, let's not forget to lay down a few bets for ourselves.
Lately I've been staying up late, working on some computer programming projects. I stay up late because that's the only time I have for "me". But that's alright. I'd rather sacrifice two hours of sleep and live on six than to keep piling up the debt I owe myself to spend time with me.
But ... "computer programming"? Seriously?
Yes. It's a sickness to some, but to me it's a game. A puzzle. Some people like the crossword or word search or sudoku. I like ASP and PHP and MySQL databases and well, making a website do what I want it to do. And don't tell anyone, but sometimes these late-night projects are for someone else. I'm really just playing and seeing if I can solve the puzzle, but they call it work. It's "me" time, and it's important.
I'm not a "follow your bliss" kind of guy. That kind of stuff leads to hippies in vans following bands around the country in open fields. But I do think you should have that little something that is yours. Even if you have to find another hour in the day to do it.
While the finite amount of time we have might be seen as an obstacle by some, it really is a blessing. Without knowing we only have so much time, would we ever get around to doing the important things? Or would we squander our time on daytime soaps, computer games, X-box, napping and the like?
The fact that we can only put off the things we MUST do for so long, we are pushed closer and closer to the cliff from which we know we have to jump as each hour comes to a close.
So in the battle for our time, who wins? Unfortunately it's also the squeeky wheel that gets the grease of time. What problem is shouting out the most? The bills? The kid's fever? The laundry in the hallway? The neighbor's dog that won't stop barking? The project with the closest deadline or the one with the biggest budget or the loudest boss? Somewhere in this high stakes poker game, let's not forget to lay down a few bets for ourselves.
Lately I've been staying up late, working on some computer programming projects. I stay up late because that's the only time I have for "me". But that's alright. I'd rather sacrifice two hours of sleep and live on six than to keep piling up the debt I owe myself to spend time with me.
But ... "computer programming"? Seriously?
Yes. It's a sickness to some, but to me it's a game. A puzzle. Some people like the crossword or word search or sudoku. I like ASP and PHP and MySQL databases and well, making a website do what I want it to do. And don't tell anyone, but sometimes these late-night projects are for someone else. I'm really just playing and seeing if I can solve the puzzle, but they call it work. It's "me" time, and it's important.
I'm not a "follow your bliss" kind of guy. That kind of stuff leads to hippies in vans following bands around the country in open fields. But I do think you should have that little something that is yours. Even if you have to find another hour in the day to do it.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Happiness & Perspective
Today is a pursuit of happiness. After all, shouldn't they all be?
If I could only get my "happiness" to stay put and not have me chase it down all the time, that would help in the pursuit. As it turns out, there are a lot of things that make me happy.
You see, Teesed.com is itself a manifestation of one of those pursuits. It's a combination of my creative self and my analytical self. On the one hand, a site has to be designed. It has to have a personality and a flow to it that is appealing to the intended audience. Some would say the audience here is "t-shirt buyers". Nothing could be further from the truth. People come here looking for something to express themselves. That something might be on a shirt to wear out in public, a mousepad to keep at home, or a coffee mug to take to the office as a show of individuality.
To that end, this site has to be a place where people can easily find that "something". That means the designer in me has to make a site where something like a search bar is easy to find. It also means that the technical geek coder has to make the search work in a way that returns what the customer is looking for.
Another pursuit of happiness is in taking other people's designs and making it easy for others to sell them. I do this through Wishads, a collection of programs that can be used by bloggers or site builders to help others find that special something.
Under much of this is my love of solving puzzles. Tell me it can't be done and I'll smash my head through the wall trying to do it. It's what attracted me to "coding" in the first place - the need to solve a problem with the computer that didn't appear to be solveable by anyone in my circle of friends. So I became "the programmer guy". That works for me, because I've also been called a "genius", a "dream come true" and a "god send". All because my coding helped someone else do what made them happy.
And that makes me happy.
If I could only get my "happiness" to stay put and not have me chase it down all the time, that would help in the pursuit. As it turns out, there are a lot of things that make me happy.
You see, Teesed.com is itself a manifestation of one of those pursuits. It's a combination of my creative self and my analytical self. On the one hand, a site has to be designed. It has to have a personality and a flow to it that is appealing to the intended audience. Some would say the audience here is "t-shirt buyers". Nothing could be further from the truth. People come here looking for something to express themselves. That something might be on a shirt to wear out in public, a mousepad to keep at home, or a coffee mug to take to the office as a show of individuality.
To that end, this site has to be a place where people can easily find that "something". That means the designer in me has to make a site where something like a search bar is easy to find. It also means that the technical geek coder has to make the search work in a way that returns what the customer is looking for.
Another pursuit of happiness is in taking other people's designs and making it easy for others to sell them. I do this through Wishads, a collection of programs that can be used by bloggers or site builders to help others find that special something.
Under much of this is my love of solving puzzles. Tell me it can't be done and I'll smash my head through the wall trying to do it. It's what attracted me to "coding" in the first place - the need to solve a problem with the computer that didn't appear to be solveable by anyone in my circle of friends. So I became "the programmer guy". That works for me, because I've also been called a "genius", a "dream come true" and a "god send". All because my coding helped someone else do what made them happy.
And that makes me happy.
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