I'm Not Even Sure What to Call This

Chapter 2 - It All Feels so Real

2017-04-13T12:17:00.001-04:00

I got into the contraption for the first time today.

At one moment I was in that typical, somewhat drab beige-grey room that we've spent so much time in as of late. The next, I was hiking in the Adirondacks on a calm, cool sunny day - just the way I like it. I'll admit, the transition was a shock to the system. It didn't feel real at first, almost an out of body experience - we'll have to work on the transition.

But I was right there, walking the trails, taking the crisp air into my lungs with every stride up the mountain. The air ever so lightly drying and cooling my throat all at the same time. As I pushed higher, my chest heavily heaved...in...out as I took in the air deeply to nourish my cells with much needed oxygen. But it wasn't really oxygen, was it?

At some point, I got lost in thought, as I'm known to do. Thinking about the marvel of this invention that has come to life, how it's going to change the world. It's going to drastically change our existence as we know it. There will be naysayers and never-adopters, and that's OK. Making huge leaps like this in a single generation are bound to leave some to the wayside. It's the early adopters we're looking for, and the new generation. Bless the new generation. Out with the old preconceptions and in with the new realities. Eventually this machine will be ubiquitous. It will be life.

That was when it happened. BAM! The sight of stars and the metallic taste of copper. I'd been neglecting my attention to the trail. There was a root just tall enough to catch my big toe and I came down HARD. My ankle aches where I twisted it. My lip, bloody. This is going to make getting back to the trail head much more difficult. I may even need a stitch or two.

That damned root. The decision had been made to map out any known trail that was already identified on the Internet, down to the minutest detail - the flora, the fauna, the pattern of the fallen leaves along the sides of the trail and apparently the roots within it. We didn't want to make any changes to the natural landscape - keep it all in tact. Customization was to to be left to our users - let them decide what this world would look like. Of course, we could make enhancements based upon their general preferences, but that would be later, after many, many more people have walked over this trail. Our dedicated team of designers had done a good job, but this root had left me reeling.

In a world where everything is inside your brain, time is the finite resource. Time is the new money. Of course "time is money" was a saying back then, but the link is so much more transparent now. I'll come back to this later.

Right now, I have a swollen ankle and a busted lip, and right now I have no need for this. So I'm posed with a few options: I could just limp along the trail until I find help; I could teleport myself directly to a hospital; I could tell the computer to heal everything instantaneously; I could opt to be eaten by a bear; or I could use the rewind feature and go back in time. Today, I think I'm going to choose the latter.

I called up the computer and asked it to go back 10 minutes. I could have said a specific time, but seeing as this is the first day of the system's creation, I would only get back as far as this first hike. As time goes on, future generations will be able to go back and witness our present - to actually sit in a lecture hall and witness the great thinkers of our time. And as we continue to gather data, we may even be able to create a virtual simulation of a person from the present who is able to interact with the future. I wish we could have done this with the great people of the past, but with as little as we actually know about them, any recreation would only be vague caricatures and machinations acting a part.

But there's no need to dream about them now, there will be plenty of time to discuss these experiences when they actually happen. As for now, I'm jumping back 10 minutes on this hike with the knowledge that I'll have to avoid that damned root. In reality, I'll have aged 20 minutes but now I'll only perceive it as 10. Time dilation is finicky like that.

Chapter 1

2017-04-13T00:39:00.000-04:00

At long last, today is the day we turn it on!

After years of hard work and preparation, millions of man hours, years of planning and preparation, hundreds of millions of dollars dumped into research and development -- measuring everything from biometrics to mapping out entire countrysides from the tallest mountain to the smallest acorn -- it's finally here! We are turning this thing on!

People have been fantasizing about overcoming the human experience since the dawn of time. It's almost instinctual, built right there within the human genome, and I can say that with some authority because we measured it - no other animal on this planet can think about itself the way humans do. No other animal can self assess, create a sandbox environment in their mind and project itself into a future or alternative reality.

But we can.

But until now we've been restricted to the environments we create and share within our minds. Sure, we can shape our environment around us, but humans are incredibly inefficient at this - and our environment doesn't really facilitate the kinds of rapid changes that our brains our capable of.

Think about a large building. First off, it takes time for planning and design of the building. Then it takes time to dig out a deep hole in the ground. Then it takes months to even years and hundreds of people to build the thing. And that's not even including the man-hours it takes just to design and manufacture each individual piece of material, from the years of farming the lumber, mining the metals and forming them into their proper shapes. So many hours taken, and that doesn't even include the time it takes to travel throughout the process as well as the environmental impact felt around the world. You can't just copy a building, or even part of a building, without repeating the entire process over again.

Inefficient.

With such a finite amount of time given to our lives and so much sacrificed for the quality of lives, a few years ago I proposed that we could do better. It all started with an idea and a pitch sent out on the Internet, in a blog post of all places. An idea culminated upon the millions of years of thought and advancement taken up to that point. It was an idea that merged the CGI in movies with the interactivity of video games, with a twist of Star Wars, a dash of the Matrix and a pinch of Second Life, formed during my time on the road and eventually conceived under the backdrop of the mountains of Colorado...and finally projected into a sandbox future that looked much like the Jetsons.

But it's not just the future. God, it's so much more than the future.

It's the past and it's the present. It's a whole set of new dimensions and alternative realities based upon anything you can dream of. It's the Reddit of alternative reality and virtual reality. It's the existence of entire new realities based upon shared ideas.

Let me be clear though. This is not an alternative reality that you "experience" via an interface with you eyeballs and a few mouseclicks. No, that would be lame. We didn't spend countless hours on this just to create yet another reason to make you fat and sedentary, gluing you ever more to your personal computer or phone.

We wouldn't have had to evaluate every sensation the human body could ever experience for yet another iPhone app. We didn't spend years developing a contraption that would keep you healthy, fed, fit and even manage your bodily excretions just for yet another computer experience.

We've designed it so well that you'll actually think you're in it. You could even lose your perception of reality. Oh, but you will know when you're in the real world, because it won't be as cool. No heads up displays, no anything you request appearing right within your fingertips, no telepathy, no teleportation.

Everything we've ever dreamed of that's limited by the human experience is just about to become unlimited. And today we turn this thing on!

BIRT Reports error - "The following visibility expression does not evaluate to a legal boolean value"

2015-05-08T16:10:00.001-04:00

Just a quick one for today. After runnign ahandful of my reports today, I noticed the following error in my print preview:

"The following visibility expression does not evaluate to a legal boolean value: {EXPRESSION}"

After thinking it through a little bit today, I realized that I had not included an else statement to my expression. Here's an example

If(myElement.value = '0') {true}

This seems like a newbie issue, but before today, BIRT seemed to just handle it without a peep. Now it seems that I have to include an else expression. Simply changing it to this fixes the error:

If(myElement.value = '0') {true} else false

If you're okay with changing the XML document, you can simply do a a quick find and replace:

Find: ) {true}
Replace: ) {true} else false

Then save the document and regenerate the report.

Boone Drivers Behaving Badly - Part 1

2015-01-22T10:57:00.000-05:00

As a commuter, I bike a lot. Almost every day I'm going and coming from somewhere. No matter if it's rain, shine, night or even snow, as long as the tires can get traction, I'm on a bicycle. It's been a fun and, at times, challenging hobby. It's also been great for reducing my energy use and saving money, well, sometimes at least for the latter, other times I wonder if I'd be a good candidate for "Hoarders." And it's a hobby that has been great for my health, I've lost over 20 lbs since I've started cycling. I'm slimmer, stronger and most days, I feel better.

But I'm not gonna lie, sometimes cycling scares the bejeebus out of me.

Roads are dangerous, especially busy roads in the peak of traffic. I try to avoid these at all costs and take the side roads, but sometimes it's the only way.

And from experience and the dings and scrapes along the way (fortunately not the "big one") I've learned that people are right - cars and bicycles don't mix. We cyclists should have our own bicycle lanes apart from traffic. Doing so would cut down significantly on the number of bicycle accidents and deaths each year. Unfortunately, funding gets in the way, and so often times bicycles and cars find themselves sharing the same road.

But somehow, most of the time, everything just works as it should. So long as everyone obeys the traffic laws, it seems like drivers and cyclists can get by just fine, especially in the heart of communities. While accidents can and will still happen - human error, poorly designed intersections, inadequate signage - we should all strive to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community members.

Yet sometimes, sometimes, people just want to be jerks! Be it malevolence, sadism or the rusher who ends up putting us in danger simply to shed a mere few seconds from their commute times. Now let me be clear, out of 100 drivers I encounter on the road, 99 of them are saintly, safe drivers who just go on about their business. I appreciate you. You are made of the stuff that has made our community such a wonderful place to live.

The rest of this post is for that 1 percent. The jerks. The dangerous. Those who would rather trade my life for a few extra seconds of their time. Is your time really so much more valuable than another person's life? Think about that, trading seconds for lives. Could you stand to load a gun and shoot me where I stand? If not, then why do you choose to use your vehicle as if it were a weapon of destruction?

Today I'm fighting back.

Armed with a camera and the videos I've shot while riding, I present : Boone Drivers Behaving Badly. While I may not be able arrest you or even report you, if you're going to be a jerk and endanger my life, then I'm going to get you on camera and put your acts on display for the rest of the world to see you for who you really are. Here's our first batch of offenders:

10-13-2014

This driver passed me right after the Wendy's light going towards Appstate on 321. As he revved up his engine while he passed, I knew what was coming.

10-14-2014

I almost feel bad posting this one, but thought I should to point out one of the main reasons why accidents happen. This feller didn't see me coming down the road as he pulled out of his driveway. Please look both ways and watch for us.

11-11-14

I'm sitting here in the middle of a turn lane and this guy decides it'd be a good idea to run the red light.

12-3-14

Probably one of the closest encounters that I've had on the road. This idiot decides to pass me and cross over the yellow line while there is incoming traffic, endangering all three of us!

1-12-15

I'm not entirely sure what this one was thinking, endangering themselves much more than me. Introducing the diagonal stopper.

1-13-15

Another close call. I'm signaling that I'm going to turn into the left lane on 321. As I start to make my turn, this one blows past me while crossing over the dashed white line, but still nearly hitting me in the process.

The Others

I wish I had video of some of the other more memorable incidences, but unfortunately, my camera wasn't recording for these:

The motorist who blew through a stop sign at 40 mph on a blind left turn. Fortunately I was just a few yards back, but had I been a car going 20 or so, someone would've been T-Boned.
The dumbass at Shadowline who thought it would be a good idea to try to drive around me while stopped at a stop sign until he noticed the video camera atop my head.
The scariest bicycle incident of my life on 321 where the guy blew through a red light at ~30mph as he was appearing to stop and then decided to gun it through. Crossed over into oncoming traffic as well as the center turn lane around me because he thought I was about to make my left turn (and would have had the hairs on the back of my neck not first snapped to attention.)
The girl who hit me at the intersection of 421 and 105 as I was crossing the crosswalk with my bike and dog in tow, costing over $250 in bicycle repairs.

Wrapping it Up

Moral of the story, please be courteous to your fellow commuters. You have to deal with us and we all have to deal with you, so let's make the commuting experience as minimally painful as possible. Bicycle commuters have to follow local traffic laws too, just the same as cars. That means if you can't drive your car on the sidewalk, then we can't drive our bicycles on it. But seriously, thanks to the majority of you out there who are courteous, I wish everyone were like you. Nevertheless, I have a feeling that this won't be the last post of Boone Drivers Behaving Badly.

Til next time, stay safe out there and enjoy the ride!

Some Windy Late Night Bicycle Riding

2014-10-14T13:31:00.004-04:00

Here's another video from a typical commute. This one is coming back from Galileo's trivia night back to the house on a windy night. Monday's tend to be my latest commute and this very dark video accurately reflects that. Looks like I'll be getting a brighter headlamp in the near future.

Most of this video is sped up 8x because the uphill was slow and gruelling. You can get an idea of what it actually sounded like @ 3:00.

Just Another Autumn Cycling Commute in the NC High Country

2014-10-13T13:04:00.000-04:00

So I recently picked up a Sony Action Cam to record my various projects and bicycle rides. Here is one of my first runs just testing it out. My Monday morning bicycle commute in Boone!

Overall, I'm pretty please with my little Action Cam! Stay tuned for more videos soon!

Meet the Most Conservative and Liberal Congressional Representatives in US History

2014-10-08T16:06:00.002-04:00

Conservative: H. R. Gross

Called "The Useful Pest" by Time Magazine, this guy is known for his staunch fiscal conservatism. He is known reciting the poem The Victory Ball while The White House held an extravagant ball during the height of the Vietnam War.

Gross has been lauded by libertarians as being the congressman with the most libertarian voting record.

Liberal: Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was a civil rights activist and the 4th African American to be elected to Congress after Reconstruction. He would often dine in "whites only" diners with fellow black constituents.

Powell was a Baptist minister known for his remark "Keep the Faith, Baby" to his constituents during a Congressional investigation that ultimately stripped him of his seat due to exorbitant trips, misappropriation of funds, absenteeism and other malfeasance. Though he was barred from his seat, his district (including Harlem) continued to vote him into office until 1970.

Ideology score taken from:

http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2013/historical-house-ideology-and-party-unity

Eclipse BIRT Report Prompt Window not Displaying - Unable to Run Reports

2014-09-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

Issue:

For over a week, I've been having an issue where my BIRT Reports prompt screen does not display any information in both the report preview and the View Report screens.

After troubleshooting, it turned out that BIRT would not even allow me to view a report without prompts, but the query results would display when I clicked preview results on the Data Set.

Java Error in Debug Mode:

Running the report in debug mode indicated that it was an error with javaw.exe:

<terminated> New_configuration (2) [Report] C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe

Sep 24, 2014 1:06:00 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.vm.ReportVMServer start
INFO: [Server] client accepted
Sep 24, 2014 1:06:00 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.vm.ReportVMServer$1 run
INFO: [Server] enter request dispatching
Sep 24, 2014 1:06:00 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher configEngine
INFO: User class path received:
Sep 24, 2014 1:06:01 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.EngineTask handleFatalExceptions
SEVERE: An error happened while running the report. Cause:
org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineException: Failed to initialize emitter.
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.EmitterUtil.getOuputStream(EmitterUtil.java:82)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.html.HTMLReportEmitter.initialize(HTMLReportEmitter.java:358)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.EngineTask.initializeContentEmitter(EngineTask.java:2320)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.doRun(RunAndRenderTask.java:118)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.run(RunAndRenderTask.java:77)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.createReport(ReportLauncher.java:620)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.renderReport(ReportLauncher.java:566)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.run(ReportLauncher.java:480)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.main(ReportLauncher.java:124)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.ReportDebugger.start(ReportDebugger.java:39)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:196)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:110)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:79)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:354)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:181)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:636)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:591)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1450)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:1426)
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: \1195_Training_Course_Inattendance.rptdesign.html (Access is denied)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.open(Native Method)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.EmitterUtil.getOuputStream(EmitterUtil.java:77)
... 22 more

Sep 24, 2014 1:06:01 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher renderReport
SEVERE: Engine exception
org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineException: Failed to initialize emitter.
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.EmitterUtil.getOuputStream(EmitterUtil.java:82)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.html.HTMLReportEmitter.initialize(HTMLReportEmitter.java:358)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.EngineTask.initializeContentEmitter(EngineTask.java:2320)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.doRun(RunAndRenderTask.java:118)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RunAndRenderTask.run(RunAndRenderTask.java:77)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.createReport(ReportLauncher.java:620)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.renderReport(ReportLauncher.java:566)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.run(ReportLauncher.java:480)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.launcher.ReportLauncher.main(ReportLauncher.java:124)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.ReportDebugger.start(ReportDebugger.java:39)
at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:196)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:110)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:79)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:354)
at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:181)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:636)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:591)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1450)
at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:1426)
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: \1195_Training_Course_Inattendance.rptdesign.html (Access is denied)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.open(Native Method)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.emitter.EmitterUtil.getOuputStream(EmitterUtil.java:77)
... 22 more

Sep 24, 2014 1:06:01 PM org.eclipse.birt.report.debug.internal.core.vm.ReportVMServer$1 run
WARNING: [Server] client disconnected

Internet Explorer 11

In addition, I had recently installed Internet Explorer 11 to test and troubleshoot an Adobe PDF error on another user's computer. Installing IE11 turned out to be the reason for the error. Turns out, regardless of what default browser you select in BIRT, it always defaults to IE debug mode.

Solution:

Adding the following two lines of code to the eclipse.ini file resolved the issue for me:

-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.DefaultType=ie
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.IEVersion=7000

This solution, as well as others for this bug can be found here:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=422056

ASTM UNIFORMAT II - Classification of Building Elements (E1557-97) - Editable Copy - For Use With AssetWorks Facility Conditions Assessment (FCA) Module

2014-06-03T09:29:00.000-04:00

Just leaving this out here on the Internet in case anyone else needs it.

You can obtain a copy of it via Google Drive Spreadsheet here.

mTurk Job Description Writing HIT Instructions

2014-03-05T13:28:00.001-05:00

Hi there, and thank you for taking the time to read these instructions! As a former heavy turker myself, I know how important your time is when completing HITs, so I'll try to make these instructions as brief as I can.

Most important thing first - the money:

Each writing prompt is worth $5.00. That's the base price for the HIT. As long as you put forth an effort that looks like you tried to put a coherent article together, you'll get $5.00. But that's not even half of what you could potentially earn for a well written HIT!
Bonuses: I'm offering up to an additional $7.00 for a well written HIT. The amount you can earn is based upon a sliding scale that is directly related to how much time I have to spend on your article in order to get it ready for print. If I need to take over an hour to rewrite it, then you won't receive a bonus, but if it's ready to go with very little or no changes, then you'll receive the whole $7.00.
Just to clarify, you can receive up to $12.00 for each well written HIT!
In addition to your pay and bonuses, I'll also donate $0.25 to the /r/HITsWorthTurkingFor donations pool for each successful HIT completed.

Now the Hard Part - Rejections

Most people won't ever be rejected. As I said before, I'm a former turker. I've been there, and I hate rejections. I'll try to work with you as much as I can. That said, here are a few things that will get you rejected outright:

HITs that are not written in coherent American English. I will be reading and reviewing every section.
HITs that are obviously spam or written by a bot.
HITs with sections that are plagiarized. I use Plagium and one other plagiarism checker to verify. Every paragraph will be reviewed individually. Over 60% plagiarized will get the HIT rejected. If they're above 50 - 60% then I'll request a rewrite (which will reduce your bonus). You can and should check your own work before you submit so that there won't be risk of rejection.
Do not post the work you do for me on another site. As per the mturk conditions - specifically section 3b - the requester commissions for the work to be done and vests ownership. If I discover the work on another site, you will be banned from doing any future work for me.

Rewrites

If your HIT necessitates a a rewrite, then I'll contact you through mturk with a link to a new HIT via the bonus system. (So make sure you receive those "You received a Bonus!" emails) You'll get the $5.00 for the original work, but no bonus. The rewrite offers you one chance to improve your work to my specifications and receive a portion of the bonus. You'll have 24 hours to accept and rework the original HIT. I'll try to include the available bonus amount, but it should be no less than $3.50.

Rejected HITs will not get a rewrite opportunity.

How To Write the Articles

Research!

Research for these articles is mandatory. That is, you cannot just write these from memory or BS your way through. I have to have some hard data. We're not talking term paper here, just a few references to ensure that you and I know what we're talking about.

You must have 2 to 3 unique references. Preferably, the reference should be from a .gov or .edu site. DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA AS A REFERENCE! - Though you can use it to gain better understanding of the job and possibly use some of the references down at the bottom of the page. There are a few primary sites that I use for my references and I'll include them in the relevant sections below. You are welcome to use your own as long as they are credible. While you may use the same site in a HIT (ex BLS.gov) more than once, I require at least 2 unique sites (this is why I often use both BLS.gov and CareerOneStop.org)

To record the references, simply provide the URL within the text.

Example:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of plumber jobs in the US will increase at a higher-than-average rate of 21% over the next 10 years. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters.htm

Job Description Section Specifications

Section 1 - Job Responsibilities

This section should be 5 to 7 sentences long or about 50 to 75 words long. This section should include the job's primary responsibilities (most important 3 -5 parts of the job). This section should also include what people/jobs this job is likely to interact with on a daily basis. Do they typically manage people? Do they work frequently with the public? Do they frequently interact with business professionals, science professionals, IT, post docs, maybe all of the above?

You can usually stick a reference in this section. Some of my favorites to pull responsibilities from are:

The occupational outlook handbook of the BLS (use the search bar in the blue section near the top of the page)
Career Onestop (use the keyword search)
Duke University's Job Description Bank (Click on either "University" or Health System" Job Descriptions and then use the "Search Job Descriptions" box.

Section 2 - Work Environment

This section should be 5 to 7 sentences long and typically 50 to 75 words.

Here are some topics that you can cover - you don't need to put all of them in the section, in fact, that would probably be too much.

Does this job typically work an 8 hour shift? Are weekends/On Call typical? Is the job often salaried or hourly? Will there be overtime? Does this job typically work indoors or outdoors? At a desk/computer or frequently walking and interacting with people directly? How should this job dress? Is there travel associated with the job? Is this a dangerous or relatively safe position? If dangerous, what are some of the key hazards of the job?

A reference can go usually here as well:

BLS data on injuries, illnesses and fatalities (Specifically - "Industry by event or exposure")
The occupational outlook handbook of the BLS (Specifically, the "Work Environment" Section of each occupation's page)

Section 3 - Education and Certification

This section should be 5 to 7 sentences long and typically a little over 50 words.

Include any relevant certifications and education requirements that typically apply to the job here. Provide the credentialing agency if applicable. If applicable, also provide how and where you'll need to take the test (On the job, at a testing center, online, etc).

If there are no education or certification requirements, use skillsets instead. What skills should a person know in order to fulfill the job? Examples: Basic computer skills, customer service/interpersonal skills, programming, reading, math level, how to use basic construction equipment, driver's license etc. Additionally, what on the job training should they expect to receive?

References here are usually of the credentialing agencies, so they vary. Another good one is the "How to Become One" Section of each job on the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the BLS.

Section 4 - Salary Expectations, Employment Rates and Outlooks

This is typically an easy section to write and is about 3 to 5 sentences long (but no less than 50 words).

Provide the average salary for the job in the US. If there is a State stipulation in my HIT instructions, try to find the average wage by state (usually available on CareerOneStop.org). Provide the expected growth rate of the job and how that compares to the national average of jobs. If there are niche markets/industries where wages are higher/lower, provide them here as well.

In Closing

I try to be very easy to work with and will gladly work with you where I can. If you have any questions/comments, you can always comment here or message me on Reddit. My username is "wildncrazyguy" and I am also a mod on the mturk related subreddit /r/HITsWorthTurkingFor.

By the way, the verification password is "green m&m's". If you just came here for the passcode, I highly suggest that you read these instructions so that you earn the whole $12.00 that these HITs are worth.

How to Create a URL Shortcut on a Windows Desktop that Opens in Chrome When Chrome is Not Your Default Browser

2014-02-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

How to Create a Desktop Icon that Opens in Chrome

This option is for users who would like to keep Internet Explorer as their default browser, but still need to open a specific URL in the a Chrome browser.

Download and Install Google Chrome here. If you need installation instructions, you can find them on the Google website here.
Right Click on the Chrome desktop icon and click properties:
Upon opening, the “Target” box should already be highlighted in blue. If it’s highlighted, simply :

hover over the highlighted section with your mouse
right click
select “Copy”

If it isn't highlighted, you will need to highlight everything in the “Target” box and then copy.

The target should look like something similar to this (but yours could be slightly different): "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"

Go back to your desktop:

Right click in an open space on your desktop
Click "new”
Click “Shortcut”

On the “Create Shortcut” screen:

Right click and paste your target into the location box
After the quotation mark, press the spacebar key
After the space, key in the URL

Click “Next”
Name your new shortcut:
Click “Finish”

Your done! Click the new URL desktop shortcut to take you directly to the URL in Chrome!

Assetworks AiM: An Automated Process for Copying / Adding Phases to Existing Work Orders

2014-01-28T09:28:00.003-05:00

Summary:

This script is an AutoIT automation that adds a new phase to an existing work order. The new phase will only be added if the current work order already has an existing phase with the name you specify.

Rationale:

We created this automation so that we could add one new phase to all of our existing open blanket work orders. We wanted to track how much time our Environmental Service Technicians were spending specifically on pest control activities, so we added a new "Pest Control" Phase to all of our "Blanket" work orders.

Using the automation allowed us to save time on data entry, while still using the front-end application. We could have added all of these through a back-end SQL script but we were concerned that we could have potentially missed adding the transaction to a connecting table and compromised our data integrity. This automated process ensured better data integrity and only took about 10 to 15 minutes to process 75 new phase entries as opposed to 60 to 120 minutes of repetitive data entry.

Known Issues:

This script could be further adapted to to do better error handling. It could potentially error out if the work order already has an existing phase named with the "new" phase name that you are trying to create. My solution was to watch the automation process and simply close the browser window if it produced an error. The coding solution would be to write an if statement that would simply click the next button when the automation discovered that the new phase already existed for that work order.
Since this is a front end automation, the automation is heavily reliant on page load times. I made sure to put time delays between every automated click. These lasted up to 6 seconds (for the save feature). Your screen may load faster or slower than ours. In my experience, the longer you run an automated process ($n=100+), the slower the front end application becomes. Time delays of 6 seconds should suffice for most uses, however, you may want to adjust the time delays for your expected load times. A coding solution would be to use AutoIT's wait until the page is loaded function: _IELoadWait.

Script:

Link to Gist on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/8668097.git

Resullt: http://jsfiddle.net/jushusted/YqWhX/embedded/result/

Loading ....

If you have any questions or need troubleshooting assistance, feel free to ask in the comments section below!

First Mining Payout

2013-12-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

Success!

After 2 months, I've finally reached the 0.50 BTC mining threshold for my first payout! Cloudhashing was prompt with the deposit to my Blockchain wallet where I was then able to transfer most of it to my Coinbase wallet and then convert it into $308 USD.

Here are a few screenshots:

Cloudhashing deposited the mined 0.50 BTC into my Blockchain wallet.

I transferred the Cloudhashing mined Bitcoins from Blockchain to my Coinbase wallet, where I converted it into USD and then deposited it into my personal bank account.

So there you go, $308.67 - a little over 60% of my initial $500 investment returned in just 2 months!

I'm keeping the other 0.07 BTC, roughly $50 at the time of posting, in my Blockchain wallet to experiment a little with using Bitcoin as currency for Internet purchases. So far, it seems that my options for using them seem somewhat limited as many of the retailers I typically use (eBay, Amazon) do not operate directly in Bitcoin. However, there is a workaround; Gyft does allow payments in Bitcoin to be converted directly into gift cards for many major retailers. eBay is still out of the option, but you can buy Amazon gift cards through Gyft for future purchases.

This is all still very new to me, so I'm continually looking for more ways to use Bitcoins. If you readers know of any, feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Thoughts and Considerations About Mining

After two months and a successful payout, I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good! I did not expect to recoup so much in so little time, and I'm certainly thankful that the timing worked out so well in my favor.

The Bitcoin movement is indeed exciting, but also frightening. I like to compare it to standing at the ledge of a steep cliff. It's thrilling to be so close and see the spectacular view, but one small slip or one shift of the ground could end up in disaster. Right now, it's a bit like the Internet version of the California Gold Rush.

Complexity

That said, at least in the Gold Rush your stake would pretty much stay the same size. That's simply not true of Bitcoin mining. With Bitcoins, there is only a specific amount that is allowed to be mined over two weeks. The difficulty of the encrypted blocks change in order to maintain this steady quota.

This is analogous to using your pickaxe against soft clay at first, but as you continue deeper into the mine it turns from soft clay to rock, until you finally strike a wall of solid granite. Worse, all the while, more miners are jumping in, encroaching on your stake, and they have automated drills and high explosives!

I found this out the hard way. At the beginning, I was mining roughly about 0.10 BTC per week. That rapidly slowed down and now I'm lucky if I mine 0.02 BTC per week. That's a five-fold drop in productivity!

If this rate continues, my little 8Gh/s pickaxe will produce nearly zilch (0.0002) by the end of the year. Hopefully the rate of new equipment coming online will slow down, but I'm not counting on it. For now, I'm pretty much reliant on the price of Bitcoins staying near $800 if I'm to receive any sort of profit from my investment. That or play the reinvestment game, buying more and more bandwidth, but at some point, even that won't be able to compete with the major leaguers.

Hidden Costs

There's also a concern that the electrical cost of mining a Bitcoin will eventually outpace the value of a Bitcoin - This has happened before back in 2011. While individuals mining in the cloud do not see this cost upfront as they would if they had their own hardware, it's a going concern for the businesses that host the hardware.

The environmental damage related to producing those Bitcoins can also be unpalatable for us environmentally friendly folks. It now takes $15 million USD of electricity to mine a day's worth of Bitcoins. At some point, mining Internet money just doesn't seem so economical anymore. In fact, many people are skipping mining altogether and just purchasing Bitcoins directly.

Miner's Remorse?

That said, do I have buyer's remorse? No, not yet. I've treated this as an experiment and a speculative investment. I had no expectations when I put up the $500. I've learned a lot about the whole process and continue to be wowed by the growth of this little Internet currency.

Nevertheless, for those looking to walk onto that ledge now, I hope this post reaches you and gives you pause. It's easy to get caught up in the hype and buy on impulse, but you need to be sure that you are willing to possibly lose most or all of your investment. Please weigh in all of the considerations before you purchase a mining contract.

Good luck.

I'm a Khanmillionaire!

2013-11-13T09:54:00.002-05:00

Woohoo! After 5 months of hard work and dedication I reached a huge milestone today!

I started on Khan Academy this past July because I wanted to build an Axis and Allies battle simulator and needed to learn more about probability. Oddly enough, I went through all of my HS and college education without really ever delving into the topic.

So when I found out that KA had a whole challenge course available on the topic, I decided to dive right in. Permutations and Combinations were really tough for me at first, but I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of them.

And that was enough for me to get sucked into KA, I went back and listened to the videos for WW1, WW2 and the French Revolution, etc in the background while I was at work.

When I exhausted those, I thought that maybe if I had missed probability and stats, what else was I missing? So I went about spending an hour or two a day dedicated to relearning math. I'm a data analyst/project manager in my early 30's and I have to say that there was a LOT that I forgot about, pretty much all of trig and a good bit of calculus!

So today I reached a huge milestone, Newton and khanmillionaire. But I'm not finished, no, not until I've caught all of those dark blue specks!

So thanks Khan Academy, for providing this expansive wealth of knowledge for free all in one friendly, easy to use site! I highly recommend KA to anyone looking to learn a new topic or someone like me, just looking to mostly freshen up on the vague knowledge that's been stored in that age-old dusty locker in the back corners of your brain!

Cloudhashing Bitcoin Mining Now Producing Income

2013-10-28T15:55:00.000-04:00

To my pleasant surprise, today I logged into my Cloudhashing dashboard and discovered that it is now producing income!

While Cloudhashing was late to mining operations by little over a month, they indicated that they had finally started mining in mid October and would be providing payouts near the end of the month.

For an original investment of just over $530, my gold plan has already paid for 7% of itself in just 2 weeks of production! If current Bitcoin prices remain stable, that means that this investment will pay for itself in just over 6 months and provide a 400% return in two years!

Of course, 400% ROI is ridiculously optimistic and Bitcoins will likely fluctuate wildly during that time. I'll be ecstatic if I can double my money in the full two years time and solidly content if the return is 10% higher than what I could have achieved in the stock market. Afterall, while $530 is a small experimental investment, dabbling in Bitcoins is very high risk and should be rewarded with greater returns to be justifiable. Bitcoins could go to 0 or the government could step in and halt Cloudhashing transactions tomorrow like they did to those over at Mt Gox, rendering my initial investment worthless. We will just have to wait and see.

If you are interested in Bitcoins, I recommend reading and learning about bitcoins from the following sites:

The Wikipedia article on Bitcoins
The Vice Guide to Bitcoins - provides some good history and lingo.
Blockchain.info - where all transactions are displayed and where you can obtain a Bitcoin electronic wallet.
/r/Bitcoin - Where you can learn about and converse with others interested in Bitcoin.
/r/bitcointip - provides some simple tutorials in the sidebar.
Cloudhashing - One of the places on the web where you can invest in a mining contract -and my vendor of choice.

I plan on cashing out the first dividend when my Cloudhashing account reaches 0.50 BTC. I'll be posting a confirmation of payment when that transaction goes through, which should be sometime mid November, so stay tuned!

Useful Information on Permaculture from Around the Web

2013-10-16T16:59:00.002-04:00

Since so many of the top links on Google are for premium permaculture classes and products, I thought I'd share my list of free websites where you can find valuable information about permaculture and sustainability.

Sites Pertaining to Permaculture News and Awareness:

Permaculture News - A niche magazine offering news articles related to worldwide permaculture efforts.
Mother Jones Environment - Offers a handful of sustainability related news articles each month.
Permaculture on Reddit - Offers user submitted articles and social commentary.
Peace Corps Agriculture Channel on YouTube - offers a handful of success stories and how PCVs went about achieving their goals.

Learning About Permaculture:

Permaculture on Wikipedia.
PermaWiki - offering more extensive, in depth reading on permaculture values and design.
Permaculture Institute - This page provides a list of the basic key concepts of permaculture.
The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise by M.E. Hard - A guide to wild mushrooms - with pictures for nearly every listing and indication of edibility.
Student's Handbook of Mushrooms in America by Thomas Taylor - with drawn pictures for many species and indication of edibility.
How Big a Backyard Do You Need to Live Off the Land - An interesting infographic.

Free Online Permaculture Courses and Tutorials:

Coursera - Offers free classes on sustainability.
Permaculture Global - Offers user driven projects and courses.
Urban Permaculture Channel on YouTube - Great instructional videos on various projects that you can do at home.
MIT OpenCourseWare - Offers a handful of Undergraduate and Graduate level sustainability courses online for free.
Sustainability on Instructables - Offers over 100 instructional how-to's on various user submitted projects.

If you know of any others, please share them in the comments below!

How to Correct the Disappearing Navigation Links and Sidebar Error When Using Dynamic View Templates in Blogger

2013-09-27T13:28:00.004-04:00

I would visit my own blog from time to time to make sure everything looked alright from the readers perspective. At times, I'd notice that my top navigation bar links would not appear. Additionally, in those same instances, all but the RSS feed button in the sidebar would not display either.

I thought maybe it was a rogue widget, so I tried deleting all but the most basic Google widgets, to no avail. So I tried reinstalling the Dynamic View template altogether, and that seemed to work for a time, but then the problem came back shortly after. Clueless on how to fix it, I started looking into other templates, and eventually to possible other blogging platforms altogether. But I liked my blog, and I really liked Dynamic View other than this one issue. So as a final last ditch effort before switching, I decided to take my search to the Internet - I only wish I had done it sooner!

After a few searches, I discovered a post about it by Southern Speakers, who linked to the actual solution discovered by the writers of Global Nomads. According to Blogger, this is actually a feature, not a bug. It's a little bit of coding that forces a quick post load time on Dynamic Views - even if the rest of the page has not loaded yet!

But the solution is simple and I've posted a step by step list of instructions below - if you'd like to support the original discoverers, you can view the original solution instructions on Global Nomads.

Here's how to fix the disappearing Dynamic View navigation and sidebar error:

Go to your blog dashboard.
In the left navigation bar below the orange "New Post" button, click "Template."
Optional: Click the Backup/Restore button on the top right to download a backup of your template code in case something goes wrong.
After you've made a backup, back on the "Template" page, click the "Edit HTML" button.
Scroll to the bottom of the code and find the "setTimeout" function.
- setTimeout(function() {
- blogger.ui().configure().view();
- }, 0);
All you need to change is the 0 to 1000

That means that the page will be delayed by a full 1 second, allowing everything to load for most readers before the timeout.

Click the "Save Template" Button and you're done!

Now you can go back and view the page as a reader, notice that everything is now there! If you are still seeing a delay, you can increase the timeout to 1500, but I wouldn't go too much longer than that, because it may scare readers off if they have a slower connection.

I've only noticed the links and sidebar not showing correctly one time since then, and it was probably due to a delay in my Internet connection. I hope that helps!

BIRT Reports - How to Change the Marker Color of a Series on a Chart

2013-09-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

Changing the marker color of a data series is easy in Eclipse BIRT, you just have to know where to look. I had to change the default color scheme when I built a chart report with two Y-Axes and more than one data series for the first data set. It seems that when you try to do this, BIRT uses the same color scheme for Axis 1 - Second Series as it does for Axis 2 - First Series.

So my report came up pretty much incomprehensible:

But I wanted something more like this:

Here is how I got to that solution:

Step 1: Insert a Chart and Select the Data to Display

I'm not going to go into detail about this step, but if you need further help on how to pull your data, you could start with the official BIRT tutorials. I have also started a BIRT tutorials project as well -click here to go to the start of my BIRT tutorials.

Step 2: The Select Chart Type Tab

In order to get the report to pull multiple Y-Axes, you will need to change the report type to a either a line or bar graph. Once you have made your selection, you will need to click the "Multiple Y Axis" dropdown to add your additional axes.

Step 3: The Select Data Tab

On the Select Data Tab, click "New Series" Under Axis 1 to add a second series of data for the axis. I am using deferred building repair costs and total building cost under the same axis because they share the same unit of measurement and are similar in scale. I am using percentage for the second axis in order to display the total deferred repair costs divided by total building costs.

Step 4: The Format Chart Tab

Alright! Now that you have built your chart with the data you want presented, now it's time to format it so that it's easily readable.

Step 4a: Changing those pesky Marker Colors

On the format chart tab - click "Series"
Go to the bottom of the page and click "Series Palette"

That will take you to a list of colors for Axis 1. The topmost color is the color for series 1, the second from the top for series 2 and so on.

When you click the series color, a drop down list will appear that will allow you to change the color of that series.
You will have to click the "Axis 2" tab to change the color scheme for your second axis.
Some notes:

I chose to keep blue for the deferral costs (Axis 1 -Series 1). I changed the more static total building costs (Axis 1 - Series 2) to black.
Brighter colors will focus attention to them. I changed percentage (Axis 2 - Series 1) to red because it was the actual series that we were trying to monitor.

Step 4b: Bonus - Changing Series Titles on Your Report Legend

On this same page, you can edit your the titles for each series.

Step 4c: Bonus - Adding the Series Values by Data Point

Since we were tracking the percentage of total deferred maintenance costs compared to total building costs, I wanted to provide as much information at a glance about that percentage. I added the percentage numerical values by data point in order to display smaller incremental changes. This can be done with a simple click of a check box.

Click the "Value (Y) Series" for the specific series that you want to display numerical information.
Check the "Show Series Labels" check box.

Step 4d: Bonus - Changing the Marker Type in BIRT

Changing the marker type is another simple change that can make your chart look cleaner and more professional. It also helps differentiate between more than one series on the chart.

On the "Value (Y) Series" for the specific series, click the "Markers" button.
Use the markers drop down box to customize the marker for that series.

Step 4e: Bonus - Changing Axis Color

Last One! If you only have one series for an axis, you can change the color of the axis to match the color of that series. This can help reduce the confusion of having multiple axes (scales) on a chart.

Click the Axis that you want to format.
Click the "A" button beside "Labels"
Change the color to match the color of the series.

That's all for now! If you have any chart formatting requests, feel free to post them in the comments below!

Make Your Own Vibram Sandals for as Little as $22!

2013-09-11T13:35:00.004-04:00

I stumbled across this Instructable today. It shows you how to make your very own Vibram sandals. The whole process looks extremely easy when you have the correct materials. The basic kit is $16 but goes up with sole and cord selection. Shipping is around $6.00 depending on location.

Instructions:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-DIY-Huarache-Running-Hiking-Sandals/

Materials:
http://www.diyfootwear.com/diy-huarache-sandal-kit/

And here's the video on how to lace the sandals:

And of course, if this is a bit too daunting, you could always just purchase a pair from Amazon.

Rocket Stoves and Rocket Mass Heaters

2013-09-09T10:53:00.001-04:00

Rocket Stoves are a cleaner and more efficient improvement on the traditional wood burning stove. Whereas much of the heat in a traditional wood burning stove propels the exhaust gasses up and escapes straight out of the flue, a rocket stove flips the whole operation on its side, allowing for more of that thermal energy to heat the inside of your home. Even better, the rocket stove's exhaust flue can be turned into a snug and toasty heated bench or bed!

This video demonstrates how the rocket stove works and provides a quick tutorial on how to build one:

As you can see in the video, the fire burns sideways, taking the exhaust gasses with it! Coming from a home with a traditional wood stove (and remembering a few windy days where the smoke billowed back into the house), this whole sideways thing didn't make sense to me at first. The secret is in the metal heat exchanger, which has much more surface area than the smaller combustion chamber and so it sucks up the heat and exhaust, cooling it just enough to take it through the rest of the vent.

Paul Wheaton's site has much more information on rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters. Along with designs, blueprints and tutorials, he has collected some beautiful images of working rocket stoves that will inspire you to make your own!

Six Core Permaculture Techniques

2013-08-28T13:17:00.002-04:00

This video by Jack Spirko is jam packed full of information on permaculture and sustainability.

The Core Six Techniques of Permaculture:

The forest floor is a lake (Roots retain water).
Nature NEVER monocrops.
Slower water creates more life.
Fungi are the teeth of the forest.
A forest grows on a fallen forest.
There are 7 primary layers to a forest - Canopy, Low trees, shrubs, herbaceous, rhizosphere, soil, vertical layer (vines).

Other Takeaways:

Build nooks and crannies that slow down and stop water.
Develop seed mixtures that compliment each other.
Implement zoning.
Implement interchangeable animal paddocking to take advantage of beneficial animal habits.
Use all parts of your animals.
Compost - Use decomposing wood as a base.
Compost - Utilize nutrient flow.
Compost - Use products of animals as natural fertilizer.

Facebook One Chrome Extension is Adding Skimlinks In-Text Advertising to the Webpages You Visit

2013-08-08T15:32:00.001-04:00

Two days ago, I updated a handful of my Chrome extensions without thinking much of it. Then, yesterday, I noticed an in-text ad on a Reddit comment I had posted. Surely, I didn't add it, so something else must have. I hovered over the link, which conveniently informed me that this advertisement was being provided by a service called "Skimlinks."

A quick Google search for Skimlinks and Chrome Extensions proved no help, so I systematically went down my Extensions list and unchecked the box for each one while visiting a Wikipedia article that now included one of these in-text links. The culprit was Facebook One.

Facebook One is an extension that lets you know when someone has posted an important update or message to you on Facebook. I hadn't been really enthusiastic since I got it. The notification counter would pop up, but it frequently would not reset after I visited the site, which made new notifications confusing. When I saw that the extension was updating the other day, I had hoped that they were upgrading the feature. To some extent, the upgrade did improve the count reset, but it seems that they also decided to sneak in Skimlinks without letting us know and without giving us the option to disable it.

If they had included the option, I may have kept Facebook One activated on my browser, but since they did not give me that choice, it looks like I will be disabling Facebook One altogether.

The Fruits of Our Sustainable Garden!

2013-08-06T11:51:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce that our sustainable garden is finally starting to produce! This is our first year implementing a sustainable garden at our new rental location and we intend on growing in all seasons for as long as we can reasonably stay at this location.

We have utilized such sustainable practices as:

And here are the results so far!

Unfortunately, this year's torrential rains and proceeding blight took out most of our potatoes and tomatoes - just like nearly everyone else in the high country, but the few that made it are producing quite nicely.

What is producing so far:

Basil
Beans
Beets
Carrots
Garlic
Lettuces
Potatoes
Radishes
Sugar Snap Peas
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini Squash

Still on its way:

Beans
Broccoli
Cabbage
Chickpeas
Corn
Eggplant
Ginger
Mint
Onion
Peppers
Pumpkin
Sunflowers

7 Steps to Get You Motivated

2013-08-02T15:25:00.000-04:00

Stand Up and Walk Around

Standing up gets you away from whatever you are doing that is keeping you down and unmotivated. Walking around increases your circulation and acts as a transition step into your next task. Objects in motion stay in motion.

Too tired to stand up? Yawn, a lot.

Do 10 Jumping Jacks

They take less than 30 seconds which increases your heart rate and pumps hormones like adrenaline into your system. Not only is this short, intense burst of exercise good for your health, the hormones give you a boost of energy, making you want to do more stuff.

Write Down Your Accomplishments for the Week

Noting your successes will help put you in a positive mindset. Positivity improves mood and reduces feelings of depression. Depression is the antithesis of motivation.

Now Smile!

Smile for 30 seconds. Just like writing down your accomplishments improves mood, so does smiling, even if you're faking. So fake it til you make it!

By now you should be a heaping ball of activated joy. Now it's time to start focusing on your task!

Organize

Remember when your writing teacher would force you to turn in an outline before you wrote the actual paper? That's because setting a clear path gets you thinking about the entire project and what you're going to need to do in order to complete it. From there you can separate the entire project into sub tasks.

Break Your Project Into Small Tasks

Breaking a up large project into small tasks will make the project seem a lot less daunting and help keep you focused. This inspirational TED Talk by Lewis Pugh shows what you can achieve by breaking enormous, daunting goals into small milestones.

Set A Timer

Sometimes it is hard to stay on task, especially when there's a whole world out there to explore. But you owe it to yourself to stop merely thinking about your own grandiose plans and actually start acting upon them. Nevertheless, being your own motivator can make it difficult to stay motivated. There are whole industries built upon trying to keep us away from our own personal laziness, from personal trainers to managing consultants.

That's why you should outsource this critical job to someone or something else. Perhaps the cheapest one is a timer, nearly all of us have one now, be it on our computers, our phones, or in our kitchen. Heck, even Google has one that you can use.

Set a timer for 25 minutes and dedicate yourself to one task, then take a short break. Rinse and repeat 4 times - this is called the Pomodoro Technique and has received acclaim by various professional writers. After you've done 4 of the 25 minute "pomodoros" (less than 2 hours of work) go ahead and get unmotivated for a while. Then come back, stand up and do it all over again.

If you have a hard time sticking to 25 minutes, there's no reason why you can't switch it up. Find that Goldilocks time that works just right for you.

Now Get UP and Get Motivated!

Still need encouragement? Try here.

Bele Chere 2013 Artists That are on Pandora

2013-07-29T11:16:00.001-04:00

As always, Bele Chere 2013 was a Blast! Thank you, beautiful city of Asheville, for hosting this awesome event and inviting so many of us event-goers to your city. I'm still holding out hope that you'll all bring it back next year or find some way to keep bringing great local as well as up and coming bands to your city streets.

After Listening to a few bands over the weekend, I got to thinking that it would be really nifty to add some of these bands onto my Pandora playlists and then I thought some others would like to do the same!

So here you are, all Bele Chere 2013 bands that are currently listed on Pandora radio and the genre of music that they play:

Bluegrass, Country and Folk

Balsam Range - Bluegrass
Chuck Brodsky - American Folk
David Holt - American Folk
Mountain Heart - Bluegrass
The Mountain Goats - American Folk
Paul’s Creek Band - Bluegrass and Folk
Randall Bramblett - Blues and Folk
Sons of Bill - Country
The Restoration - Bluegrass

Electronic

Dan Deacon - Electronic
Kishi Bashi - Indie Electronic

Indie

Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors - Indie
Moon Taxi - Indie
Nahko and Medicine For The People - Indie

Rock

The Bright Light Social Hour - Rock
Wanda Jackson - Rockabilly

Other

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe - Jazz & Funk
Jonathan Scales - Steel Drums