Just finished upgrading to Wordpress 2.7.1. It looks great!
Last year I wrote Creative Gift Ideas, a How-To Guide to introduce a simple technique of using note taking and free-association for finding that “perfect” gift. To my surprised, that article started ranking well on Google for searches like creative gift ideas, creative gift ideas to make, and creative gift ideas for mom. In fact, those three phrases now drive more traffic to my site than people looking for James Tharpe.
This year I modified my technique slightly and started using Google Notebook instead of a real notebook. Most of my ideas come from the internet and pressing the clip button is much easier than digging around for a pen. Aside from that, the technique hasn’t really changed.
So what ideas did I come up with this year? Here are my top five:
#5 - SpokePOV
This thing is just plain neat. It is a kit that allows you to design an image to be displayed on your bike wheels as you ride. The picture speaks for its self:
#4 - Fly Stick Van de Graaff Levitation Wand
Just add two AA batteries, and you get this magical thingamabob:
#3 - Miniyou
Step 1: Choose a body.
Step 2: Choose a picture.
Step 3: Recieve a bobble head that looks like you!
#2 - DNA Art
A uniquely personal present. Send off some DNA and a few hundred dollars, and get a work of art in return!
#1 - Genographic Project Participation Kit
Speaking of DNA… Wondering about your family tree? The Genographic participation kit lets you send off your DNA and discover your deep ancestry. I can’t imagine a more interesting gift; it’s the sort of thing that the recipient will remember for the rest of their life.
As always, please feel free to share your gift ideas and techniques for coming up with them in the comments!
Today I played Spider-Man at Parties on Air for a kids 4th birthday party, just because I could. I had a great time. I got a little worried when I walked in and heard one of the kids say “I don’t think that’s Spider-Man, I think that’s a real man.” But she seemed quite convinced when I handed her a spidey-mask a few minutes later.
After handing out paper Spider-Man masks and gift bags, I sat in on the special Spider-Man throne that had been setup. The kids were fascinated but afraid to approach. My wife overheard the birthday-boy say to one of his friends, “Be brave! Go meet Spider-Man! Be brave!”. I think he was talking to the same kid that later came up to me, gave me a high five, then ran like hell.
One of the girls working at the venue asked if the costume was comfortable. I told her it was more comfortable than the suit I normally wear to work. “What do you normally wear?” she asked; “a suit,” I said; she looked surprised and asked, “oh so you do this for a living?”
Later I gave a demo of Spider-Man’s web-slinging abilities. While setting up, a kid from a different party came running up to me shouting “Hey Spider-Man! Remember when you came to my birthday party?” His mom stood behind him biting her lip and nodding yes with a worried look on her face. So I told him “of course I do!” to which he replied “I think you got taller!”
I recently read The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. This books is a witty and somewhat accurate account of The Great Gold Robbery of 1855 in which £12,000 worth of gold bars were stolen from a moving train. The book details the motivation, planning, and difficulties of the robbery as well as the eventual arrest and escape of Edward Pierce, the mastermind behind it all. A quick and entertaining read, it was filled with clever schemes plus a healthy does of Victorian era factoids and slang. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to read something light, yet clever.
Following the book, I bought the movie which stars Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, and Lesley-Anne Down. The movie was written and directed by Michael Crichton which must be why it is almost exactly like the book. Once you can get past the grainy picture quality (the DVD obviously wasn’t remastered) and the old-school acting style, the movie is pretty good at bringing out a little extra of the story’s dry wit that you can only get from actors. Personally, I think it’s a good candidate for a remake.
Recently I signed up for Geni, a family tree building website, after reading an article about it on TechCrunch.
Coincidentally, TED released a video at around the same time, which I just caught today:
This talk is by one of my favorite scientists, Spencer Wells, who wrote The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, which is also a National Geographic video.
At the end of the TED Talk, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it’s possible to actually participate in the Genographic Project by ordering the participation kit which “will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago.” Impressive.
I have added this to my list of interesting and creative gifts for holiday shopping ‘08.
Since deciding to go paperless I’ve had some research done and I’ve plotted out a few steps in my head. The first of those steps is elimination, which I think I can take care of this weekend.
First thing tomorrow morning I am going to: Sign up to stop credit card offers, reduce my junk mail, and opt-out of catalogs.
I think that will be a good start. At least it will eliminate some clutter and save some trees. I still haven’t decided if I am going to eliminate mail further through a paid service - I’ve heard good things about Earth Class Mail.
I’m still mulling over a few techniques I’ve found to handle my existing documents.
While going paperless, I thought it’d be nice to consolidate everything online. I’ve already pretty much eliminated Microsoft Office by using Google Docs - why not move my finances from Quicken and QuickBooks to an online solution?
Well there is no “Home and Business” edition of Quicken online, and the online version of QuickBooks only works with Internet Explorer. WTF was Intuit thinking? Microsoft was even worse - they don’t offer an online version of Money at all.
After some research I found there was… nothing. Unbelievable. Every day I read about stupid websites and failing online startups and I find it hard to believe no one has made an decent online accounting package.
I think it’s about time someone got on that.
Today I left work early to get all my tax stuff together. I’m the kind of guy who has to dig through closets and sort through piles of paper strewn on the floor to find everything needed. Taxes drive me crazy enough; I shouldn’t be making it harder on myself.
Yes, my physical world lacks organization. But my electronic world is immaculate. You want a copy of that email about that thing we saw at that place some time back? No problem, I’ll have it to you in ten seconds. You want a copy of my W2 from 2006? Too freakin’ bad.
So I’m going paperless. I just made this decision about five minutes ago as I pulled an old document out from under a rusty hammer in the closet we keep all our tools in. How did it get there any way?
Any way. Aside from a computer, a scanner, and a good backup system I’m not sure what’s involved in becoming completely paperless. Though I have a good backup system at home (a 1TB Buffalo Network Drive) it may be time to get off-site backups. In addition to that, I have to consider searchability of the documents I store - I hope OCR technology has improved a lot since I last used it.
I still haven’t found everything I need to file my taxes, but I ‘m close. I’m just a few calls/faxes away.
This technology will change the world. Amazing.
Currently the inventors of this technology are looking to give the power of speech to the vocally disabled. However the possibilities for us all are endless… from a new way to hold a private conversation to changing the channel on your TV without lifting a finger. Imagine being able to tap your thoughts into the internet for instant research - that would be useful for way more than trivia night at Mellow Mushroom.
I am blown away.