What a gift that would be to just create and be paid for it. I often dream of an ideal world where I wake up early because it no longer sucks to be conscious for the first half of the day, and I brew a pot of coffee to have with my breakfast of choice for that day while I page through one of the ultra-interesting magazines or newspapers I’ve been neglecting for years in real life. Once I’m through “breaking fast” and absorbing inspiration and information for the day, out to the walking trails I go with the dogs, to breath some fresh air and let the gears turn and the ideas percolate. Did I mention that in this world, the wife and I own a modern but super cozy solar powered home right by a lake and countless winding trails and rolling hills?

So I walk (this, by the way, can be replaced by running, canoeing, or whatever strikes my fancy that day) until my heart’s content, meeting many a friendly, interesting, but not overly talkative villager along the way. Then home for lunch and conversation with my lovely wife who just woke up and needs not attend a job she cares not to, due to the boatloads of currency brought in my my endless creativity.

After desert, another pot of coffee goes on, and it begins to rain (yes, all the time; unless I have something special to do outside). I then commence drawing and doodling and writing and creating while I listen to the rain tap against the windows, taking short breaks now and then to enjoy all the positive feedback I regularly receive from my adoring fans.

Ok, back to present day. I wrote this post because after a long day of web developing, and and long night of screen printing, I started poking around on some sites, and looking over some things I’d done in the past. I came across a short little cartoon I did about a year ago. I actually liked it, which is rare when you’re looking at past work, and decided to post it to Facebook once more. Will anyone else enjoy it? I hope so, but probably not; especially given the meager number of people Facebook actually shows your content to nowadays.

It’s fine though, cause I like it. It just reminded me of how creative I like to be, and how creativity under time constraints like I partake in now is just not, I don’t think, the ticket anyone is looking for. I don’t even think it’s true creativity if you don’t even have the time you need to flesh it out as much as you like. George RR Marin: now THERE’s a guy letting his creative juices go to work for real.

I get a certain amount of creative energy out in the work I do for money. And I really have nothing to complain about there. But boy wouldn’t it be fun to actually not be exhausted for once, and to have time to-I don’t know-hop on a train somewhere and create cool things on just a pad of paper and/or laptop as the scenery goes by?

As long as ideals like this live in my head, I think mindFull-or at least SOME similar place to post my “things”-will be alive and well.

Again, it’s been a while, and there are many things I have in mind to write about for Mindfull, but for right now there’s another little project that’s on the go: DogSmooch.com!

If you want to know what dog products to buy, or if you want to know what dogs look like shaking in slow motion, this could be the site for you!

You can also check them out on Facebook!

Here’s the inaugural post, just to let you know what dog lovers the group is comprised of, and what their intentions are!

That aside, what’s with all this disrespect RSS is getting lately? First Google Reader takes a hike, and now the Twitter API has abandoned it! Well I for one love RSS. I think it’s a great and versatile technology, and I think everyone would be mighty upset if it went away and they discovered just how many things rely on it.

This post started here: I wanted to post tweets from both my business’ twitter account, and random relevant accounts around the twitterverse, to my business’s website; and I didn’t want to use crappy, rigid, pre-style apps and plugins to do it. This used to be no problem, as Twitter would actually provide you with RSS links for everything you could possibly think of! No longer!

But here’s where Google gets some points back. Using Twitter’s new API, I was able to generate a Google script that would translate searches and feeds into proper usable RSS feeds! I’ll ramble no longer. The solution I found worked for me right off the hop, but I won’t post it here. I appreciate useful, sneaky, simple, well written teachings like this so much, I wouldn’t think of stealing the man’s traffic. Find out how to get RSS feeds for Twitter user accounts and searches right here!

But I’m still alive, I just got my invite to the new Google maps, and it’s pretty cool. So here’s some stuff on that!

Instead of map/satellite toggle, you can jump from map to ‘earth view’ on the fly. Earth view contains 3d models of every building, which you can pan and rotate at will. I don’t know how they do it, and I defy you to not spend at least minutes scoping out your neighborhood!

The search is also much better now. It remembers where you go, what you like, and it’ll even zoom to a specific landmark as you type them into the search box. And the maps are much more attractive color-wise to boot!

Anyway, that’s it for now. Much more to explore, but looking really good so far! Have a peek at a few screen shots below from my ‘hood. Click to enlarge.

Will post again soon…When I can!

Discovery Science Channel’s “Through the Wormhole” Hosted by Morgan Freeman. Is amazing!

Reddit’s “Explain Like I’m Five”

Daily Planet (Online or on TV)

Episode Link

CBC’s “Quirks & Quarks”

Show Link

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Star Talk

Here’s the Audio Podcast. Also available in video on the Nerdist Youtube Channel:

I also like the theory behind How Stuff Works’ podcasts, but I don’t like how much they obscure access to the shows. Why no on-site listening?

Got any of your own “edutainment” resources? Let me hear ‘em!

Simply right-click on the spot you’re interested in, select “What’s Here”, and you’ll get a nice green arrow along with location coordinates. You can now click the link button and send this map to someone. Not perfect, not robust, but it took me  a while to figure it out, so hopefully this will save someone out there some time!

After hitting a link I found in my google reader on the topic of our “primal posture” (also an informative watch, even if a little open-ended) I found myself hopscotched over to another TED talk about meditation. The twist in this one that caught my attention was that it was a talk given by a neuroscientist! Sara Lazar was her name. I’ll post the video below, but for those who like to cut to the chase, she’s found that meditation does in fact alter the physical structure of your brain.

This really does make me want to make time in my life to do some daily meditating. As someone with a constantly racing mind, I think I’d be one to notice some actual benefits.

To put the icing on the cake, here’s another good talk given by Andy Puddicombe who actually went out and became a Monk. Here he speaks simply about why it only makes sense to take care of your most important instrument, and how simple it can be to do so.

I don’t really go for a lot of mysticism, but when things have actually been studied, or they seem logical to me, I say it’s worth a shot. My next logical thought was “where would I begin?”. Well, Sara Lazar herself recommends the Center for Mindfulness’ Stress Reduction Program. But in the spirit of Puddicombe’s talk, I don’t think it pays to start with a high barrier to entry.

Personally, I’m going to start here and see where it takes me. Have any of you added meditation or similar practices to your lives? Has it helped? What is your regimen like?  I’d love any and all input!

I Just learned this morning that Google is retiring it’s aptly named RSS feed reader, Google Reader. I had no idea this was coming!

I know most people don’t use news readers these days (although they should, and I’m sure WOULD, if rss was a more promoted and more streamlined technology), but for some of us they’re very convenient and make a lot of sense! To me it only makes sense, in an era of information overload, to have one place to aggregate all the info you like to keep track of.

I know there are other readers out there, but to be honest, I like having my reader within the same Google environment I spend so much time in. And I don’t really see what Google gains by retiring the product. I know they probably don’t have a ton of interest or user numbers, but Google Reader’s gotta be one of—if not THE—most used reader sites/apps out there, doesn’t it? Couldn’t they just obscure it a little and keep it running?

Anyway, I think it sucks and I hope they change their minds. But I know they won’t. Booo! Get behind RSS and your very capable product, Google!