Paul R Smith Dot Com

What Better Way To Bring On The New Year....

...Then the opportunity for humiliation.

Here's the deal.  Nike did this last year where make a resolution and then to further motivate yourself give yourself a consequence for not reaching that goal. 

To make this interesting...Nike did videos of some who didn't accomplish their running goals like:

This one:

So, my buddy at work, Steve help come up with this gem:

If I do not run 50 miles a month (going for 600 miles for 2008) I will get my nails painted at a mall nail shop.

Steve even promised lunch at the local biker bar to even add more of an incentive. 

Now, why do this?  Why bother? Well, this is helping me with two goals.  I'm willing to risk my life.  (The irony is the place is called Stroker's Bike Bar) to become more fit and lose pounds AND get back in touch with friends who I have let the communication slip.  I think that's worth a little laughter at one's expense.

I'll be putting this stuff on my website at www.paulrsmith.com as long as I can get TypePad to take the formatting.  Feel free to drop by and take a look.  I'm sure if I fall there will be pictures.  Brenda is oddly excited about this.  But sadly she didn't want to put one of her own in here.

Wish me luck!

Lessons Learned From 2007

1. I can do a marathon.

2. I can finish a marathon a lot better when it's not 89 degrees with high humidity.  But I can still do a marathon.

3.  Asking for blog comments is like geek dating in high school.  Highly unlikely.

4. I love Nike plus.  This website is up there with Mr. Pibb, my Mac, and Oreo cookies.

5.   Blogs are more for the people writing them then the people who read them. But I'm very grateful for the 9 people a day who come across my site. You rock! Keep up the good work.  It's very good practice for me coming up with these entries. 

6.  Make time for thine self.  Getting pulled apart in 50 directions was one of my favorite hobbies this years.  Learning to say no is very hard for me.

7.  Never put off a lunch date.  You may never know when you're forced to write a blog entry telling everyone how cool he was post-humorously. 

8.  Wake up earlier so I don't spend all my time in Dallas traffic. 

9.  Being married to Brenda is really awesome for over 12 years.   I'm sorry Paula.

10.  I need to take more pictures with my camera phone.  I'm apologizing ahead of time to anyone who finds me capturing images offensive.  That'll teach you to leave comments next time. 

11.  I gained 10 pounds this year.

12. It's going to become, “Question of the Moment” just to make things interesting.

13.  People are often caught off guard by caller id.  I need to abuse this more.

14.  When I travel, write more.  But do it out in the public. 

15.  Friends are really cool even for geeky hermits.   I'll be calling more often in 2008, but that's another entry.

16. Macs are really cool.  It really makes computing fun again.

17.  I should have bought the iPhone in the late summer.  Curse you Metrocake!  (Not jealous...not jealous at all.)

18.   I need to twitter more.

19.  Despite the horror that CompUSA was, I can't help but feel for the people who used to work there.

20.  Car repairs suck. 

21.  Wordpress is no fun.  I still need to move those journal entries back.

Question of the Week: What Gift Did You Not Get?

It happens every Christmas.  The one gift you were counting on is a no show.  All you are left with is rags of gaudy paper, some tears, and a feeling of vain loss.  The sinking feeling that someone broke into your account and put a fruit cake on your Amazon wish list. 

What's the answer to your holiday woes?  Well, it's my little gift to you.  Post your ill-advertised gift down in the comments. But do it anonymously.  I don't want to hurt other's feelings here.  Why the post? What's my story?  Well, to be truthful,  I did make out very well this Christmas.  But sadly, I still don't have Paula Radcliffe's phone number. 

Back to you, comment your confession and get it out of your head, like you were supposed to with your gift.  Get it all out of the way and your vanity remains scratch free  All that and you can keep your friends, family and love ones in the dark to your heart's secret desires.   After all it is the holidays and everyone struggled to get you the wrong gifts.

    Now, this was not inspired by my gifts today.  I need to say that otherwise I'll have to deal with the drama at home.  We all struggle to get each other the right gift.  We try to drop enough hints.  We leave open catalogs in convenient places like eyelids.  Some of us rent billboards.  And, sadly, sometimes you get the rose colored Nintendo DS and you wanted the Onyx one.
    But, seriously, Paula...if you're ever in Texas...

Sigh, Emeril Lagasse's Live Show Cancelled

Emeril Gets Cancelled

His live show has been going for 10 years.  I question why the Food Network would cancel him, and add another show with Rachel Ray.  She's nice, but she's not even a trained chef.  And, seriously 40 dollars a day?  I'd watch a show where they leave her in an undisclosed town with 40 dollars and see what happens.    She doesn't need another travelling show.  She needs to stay at home, eat some Ritz, and behave. 

All right, I'm sorry, but if you want to have some fun do a google search on her marriage and see all the, "marriage is on the rocks" and "marriage is fine" debates.  Honestly, I don't care.   ;-)

Sigh, Jade still calls her powdered sugar "Bam" from watching the show. 

The Writer's Strike: Fighting Over A Fading Ice Cube

The first title was, "How I Lost All My Friends In Under 10 Minutes." 

Now, here me out here. If I were a judge with the power to end this strike I would give it to the writers in a heart beat.  I have no love for the media oligopoly in Hollywood. 

The media conglomerates announced that Late night TV will be returning to the air waves as the writers and the shows are negotiating without their bigger brothers.   There's nothing like remaining united.  This will further confuses the issue and will backfire on both sides, in my opinion.  Why am I seeing Leno, but not what happened in the next episode of Lost?  Where's the Daily Show?

Seriously, does Hollywood matter anymore?  I'm not just talking You Tube.  The Internet has taken the audience away from both TV and movies.  Leisure time has been shrinking.  That is what entertainment companies should be focusing on- our time, not our wallet.    Once upon a legend, free time was spent on watching sports, going to movies, bowling, and then picking one of 3 channels for a mild diversion.  Now, however, there's poker with college friends, role playing, video games, reading an increasing amount of books, increased exposure to unfamiliar music, scrap-booking, Chuck E Cheese, dinners out, clubs, and social get together with your Face-book buddies and a cup of Joe.  TV and movies audiences have been shrinking.  With 9 million people playing World of Warcraft, those people don't really care who's "the biggest loser" is.  In restaurants, TV is just background noise like a Muzak with a picture.

Hollywood keeps it's eye on how many people are watching the movies this week.  It also studies who is watching TV.  But no one surveys how we spend our leisure time on a regular basis.  Hollywood has lost track of what their customers want.  Most people don't want difficult to open DVDs with commercials you can't skip calling you a thief.  Is it Blu-Ray or HD-DVD?   Please.  They want entertainment, not commercials for 10 minutes before a movie they paid too much for while sitting in an unclean theater. 

I'm not big on unions.   I've read the requirements to join the Writers Guild of America.  For a mere $2500, I can be out of work too.  I don't see much about the young lady who maxes out her credit cards to create her first film?  Anything about the computer game company that just sold a million units?  Porn?  (all right I'm leaving myself wide open on that argument, but I'll bet you have been films that out-grossed Glitter.) Writers coming over from Korea or China?  What?  Outsourcing is only good enough for Information Technology?   

But, seriously,  I would like to see the writers win their current struggle.  But at the same time I hope we all see that times are changing and leisure needs an upgrade.  There are too many other avenues for the fan base to get lost.  What if there was a strike, and nobody cared?  We may not be there yet, but ask major league baseball and the hockey teams how their attendance suffered right after their work stoppages.

Writers have the talent and the ability to take their gifts in so many different areas.  The starving artist may have the opportunity to help draft the entertainment of tomorrow and not be reduced to begging for table scraps from broken business models.

Fred Smithson 1944 - 2007

I lost a good friend  this week.  I used to work on the help desk with my friend and coworker Fred Smithson.  He was a ham radio genius, a weather storm expert,  a wonderful conversationalist, and could program a Timex Sinclair to the lowest kilobit.  We used to get in trouble by chatting long after our shifts were done.  Our spouses would leave voicemails of concern.   He had a warm heart and a huge smile that made him famous with sales reps (quite a feat if you are in Information Technology) and our customers.

I miss him a lot.  His passing me hit me pretty hard because I've been meaning to call him for lunch for the longest time. Too late.  Time hates overdue payments.

So, if you get a call from me for no reason, it's just me trying to learn a lesson I should have learned years ago. 

Ice Bound in in Oklahoma

Well, I made it here on a 3 o'clock flight to Oklahoma City from Dallas.  The other two flights after me were canceled.  So, I'm OKC, and it looks like a ghost town.  It's my last trip of the year. 

A lot of people are staying home and a lot of people are hanging out in their hotel rooms.  And the roads are real slippery.  I miss my family which is par for the course on these trips.  But I feel like Batman without his utility belt since Verizon does not believe in Oklahoma City.  I'm stuck here without my phone GPS in roaming phone limbo.  Oh, well, at least my work is only a block and a half from the hotel where I'm staying. 

Still everything is oddly quiet.  And the biggest bummer of them all.  This hotel does not have the Weather Channel. WTF?  Still, I'll get them back by using up all the free wi-fi.  ;-)

Nanowrimo - 0 for 3

Nanowrimo 2007

Yeah, I know that title will annoy people.  But it's the only way I can really sum it all up.  I've come to the realization that I really hate December first.  For the last three years, it's been a reminder of the choices I've made and the short comings I face.  It's like always going to the candy store and finding yourself a few cents short. 

Now I know my opinion is selfish.  There are far worse problems in the world.  But it's hard for me to swallow what I can and what I allow myself to do.  Writing and running are important to me, but sadly they are very lonely occupations.  Maybe I made some wrong choices.  Like most people I have a deep chasm between what I desire and what I accomplish.  I need to change that.  Still, part of the costs for attempting Nanowrimo or training for a marathon is that I leave others behind.  Jade would be very upset when Dad would be gone for hours running in the dark and the cold.  Bren felt obligated to try to clear the way so I could sit in a corner somewhere and stare at a wordless screen.  These prices are too expensive for me.

There was some good out of trying.  There is value in going all out and trying to go beyond what was possible.  I've learned to write better in the company of others.  Cooking tomato sauce is a great cure for writer's block.  This year, one of my greatest accomplishments was completing that marathon.  Now, selfishly, I want to do it again.  But that cost time, money, and strained relationships.  I've been fighting the equations of friends vs. personal goals for a long time.  I don't know what a winning score is here.  It feels that sharing the victory with loved ones is sometimes answered with indifference. 

So I continue trying to find the balance.  Life lacks buzzers for mistakes.   But I'm faced with the same decisions without the 50,000 word goal hanging over my head.  I want to continue to write and run.  Can goals be shared?  Can I do this and be able to sleep more than 4 hours a night?  (Not tonight....)

I'm not asking for pity.   I'm not apologizing.  I'm just writing in my blog in the attempt to explain who I am.   I continue to finish my story I started on 11/1/07.  But, like most things, I have a long way to go before I reach the finish line.  I'm just afraid of being in the wrong race.