DeanNorman (.com)

iPhone 3G Review

I've owned my iPhone 3G since the day it came out (July 11th) and have come to some conclusions and experienced the ins and outs now. I think it's time I wrote a review of the things I've found.

Dropbox Update

Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com) a little bit and found some good uses and smaller things to work on.

Beta Testing Dropbox!

www.getdropbox.com (http://www.getdropbox.com) to activate a beta trial. Click that link to check it out. I'm stoked! I've added my office computer and I'm excited to get to different locales to add other computers. I can't tell you how many things I work on in different locations that'll be HIGHLY expedited by this kind of functionality.

The Experience of Having Your Car Repossessed

In retrospect it was a pretty dark time in my life. I was trying very hard to make many new things work for me. Things I hadn't done before. Things that I wanted very badly. Things that were important to me. And I was failing.

Casey and Shelley are Now Taken!

The deed is done! Casey and Shelley got married and it was AWESOME! The weather in Sacramento was warm, but it didn't seem to matter. It was a very eloquent ceremony with a great crowd of people. Click read more to see a few slideshows ... ***UPDATED PHOTOS***

Be the Watcher of your Thoughts

I read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in 2004 or 2005 and it caught my attention. I sat with it for quite a while to see what rang true with me. Just this year I read his new book, A New Earth. I have to say he has my attention. He has my attention enough that I'll deal with Oprah to listen to him and see him. Through his teachings there has been one reminder that really catches my attention and puts my energy where it should be. In both the Power of Now and a New Earth, the author says to Be the watcher of your thoughts. I've put this reminder up for me in assorted places. It helps.

How John Mayer Writes a Song

Alright. I like John Mayer. I like John Mayer a lot. After I saw Any Given Thursday, I was pretty well hooked. And if you've seen the extras on the Any Given Thursday DVD you know John Mayer has a sense of humor. Even if you haven't seen the extras. This one tops the cake for sure!

A Windy Day at Virgin Creek

Yesterday was really windy! Late in the day I was being a turd in front of the computer at the office and decided to do something different: I went to Virgin Creek and took some photos.

Bloxorz

Rarely do I have enough fun playing a game that I would consider it worthy of a post, but here is one. Introducing Bloxorz! Click through and give it a play - it's worth a few minutes, at least. Why? BECAUSE I SAID SO!

I visited Casey in Sacramento

This past week I went over to Sacramento to visit my buddy Casey. We did all sorts of cool stuff. This was probably the most subtly epic trip of my life. Read that again. Click Read More to see a slide show and read more about my trip...

How to Make Intelligent Buying Decisions

In my article about how to efficiently find deals on Craigslist using Google Reader (http://www.deannorman.com/blog-post/how-to-efficiently-find-deals-on-craigslist-using-google-reader.html), I finished by talking about choosing the products you decide to buy wisely. I think this is a very important part of living a healthy life, really, but on a simpler level, it's about having nice things. I enjoy having high quality things. I think most people do. I tend to value the things that I own if there was a degree of forethought that went into buying them. I also waste less money, which is a matter of perception, I guess, but the feeling of not wasting is important. I will be less likely to purchase a product I don't really need if I've put the forethought into the purchase - the novelty will wear off before I buy it instead of after the money is spent. In this article I'm going to give you some ideas and tools to help you make your purchases of a higher quality. Do you have the patience to use them before making an important purchase and take the impulse out of buying?

It's Raining McCain?

**EDIT** If There are ads on this page at the top and right for John McCain, please do NOT take them as my endorsement for him as president. I may or may not endorse Mr. McCain. Although it is excruciatingly difficult not to directly state whether or not I endorse him, I believe it is better left unsaid. I Cannot believe that this exists. I can, actually, but it's just fundamentally not right. So here's your challenge: if you can get through this *whole video* without feeling intensely uncomfortable, email me. I'm sure I owe you something. Moreover, I'd like to meet you and study you.

Casey Came to Visit!

Casey Came to Visit (http://picasaweb.google.com/neandorman/CaseyCameToVisit) So cool! My best-good buddy Casey came to visit this weekend. He just left a very short time ago. It was immeasurably good to see him. Casey is getting married to Shelley pretty soon (http://www.deannorman.com/blog-post/casey-and-shelley-are-getting-married.html). We hadn't seen each other in quite some time, so it was good to be able to catch up and talk to him about his wedding. He's super excited about it and so am I. It sounds like he's got quite the group coming to watch him get married.

How to Get Better Gas Mileage - Low-Tech Style!

I realized the other day, as I was merrily driving along, that I drive an absolutely bottom-of-the-line automobile. I love it! It is a fantastically reliable vehicle that gets good gas mileage, doesn't get attention, and fits all the people I need. There are some small, technically luxury items I miss. On longer trips I particularly miss cruise control. I miss it for the gas mileage and I particularly miss it when my tibialis anterior starts to cramp. I decided to make a good thing out of my cramping calf and I came up with a couple of different, simple things that I do to get better gas mileage and take some of the work out of driving a truly non-luxury automobile.

Da Ebonics Translator

A friend sent me a link to this ebonics translator. It said I could put it on my website. Guess what I did :) Post your funniest ebonic translations in the comments...

For Shizzle...

click to enlarge For Shizzle! I don't know what the DMV is up to, but they're obviously not listening to rap. How this one got through is beyond me. Obviously, the vehicle owner is not a gangsta, either. Perhaps the driver's name is Barbara and her grandson fondly refers to her as Bizzle. (!?) What do you think?

How to Efficiently Find Deals on Craigslist using Google Reader

I bought my car four or five months ago using this technique. I got it for $1,300 under Kelley Blue Book. With a bit of patience I found exactly the car I wanted for a price that couldn't be beat. The key is to know exactly what you want. The rest will fall in to place rather quickly using the technique I'll outline below. I have decided I would like to get an iPhone. I want the 8GB model. I am going to show you, step by step, how I am going to find a good deal on an iPhone using Google Reader to efficiently search through Craigslist.

Red Pear Nigiri

The Chef at Stevenswood likes to play with food. To the right is a photo of his Red Pear Nigiri, a play on sushi. On bottom is delicious goat cheese, in the middle is a perfect slice of sweet red pear, and on top is beet caviar - but not fish eggs. In the photo he's putting a piece of Terragon on top. Pretty cool, huh? :) --Dean

Stephen and Heather came to visit

Stephen and Heather came to visit (http://picasaweb.google.com/neandorman/StephenAndHeatherCameToVisit) Stephen and Heather came to visit me for Valentine's Day. They stayed at Stevenswood (http://www.stevenswood.com) and had dinner (http://www.stevenswood.com/dining.html). It was AWESOME to see them!

Coming up on Valentine's Day

This absolutely floored me! I guess I'm a pretty big HSR fan, but this one put me out for the count... --Dean

Casey and Shelley are Getting Married!

email me (mailto:me@deannorman.com?subject=Casey%20and%20Shelley%20pictures) with cute pictures of Casey and Shelley... --Dean

How to Cheat At Treo 650 Solitaire

Yeah - I spend a bit of time playing Solitaire. Since my last reset of stats it's been 1149 minutes and 20 seconds. I've won 308 games and lost one. Of course, all of this is done on easy mode - dealing one card at a time and getting a cookie every time you win the game. I guess I figured out how to cheat after I reset the stats last time because there is absolutely no way you can lose once you know how this is done...