The next few days went by in a whirlwind of shopping and christmas parties. We also went shopping in some of the cooler places like the K Street Mall, which is located in Old Sacramento. The weather was great (though a bit too dry for this time of year), and having christmas in America was a ton of fun.  After christmas I went with my friends to Tahoe, where we drove completely around the lake. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do anything in the snow because there simply wasn’t any.

Before my trip ended I had a chance to go to the river,  shoot an airsoft rifle, ride a dirt buggy, go over the golden gate bridge, eat at an Afganistan restaurant, and more. Here are some of the pictures I took. I’ll have another post soon talking about something that was really disappointing to me on this trip.

I have said this before, but I think we place too much emphasis on certificates and qualifications. Most of us want certain people like doctors, engineers, and mechanics to have certificates, but part of that is because of dishonest people who don’t have the right skills claiming they do. Perhaps more time should have spent teaching honesty and being a good person.

We put all the focus on expensive schools that have prestige and require expensive textbooks, and yet the world has more problems than ever before. The gap between the poor and wealthy has consistently grown and is getting worse each day.

So here is a very inspiring video of another way to do education? What do you think? Is it a good idea?

I mentioned a few posts back that I was planning to start creating some videos and some “learn X in 30 days”. Well, my video camera finally arrived and I am ready to start. I will be writing blogs and making videos to go along with my progress.

The first challenge will be to learn and play four songs on the ukulele. I have actually learned to play a couple song and at this point am practicing almost everyday. The ukulele really is a fun instrument to learn and ukuleles are also a lot cheaper than most instruments. You can pick up a decent ukulele for around $50 and get something pretty good around the $100 range. Not as easy to do with a guitar or piano.

The idea of the 30 day project isto try new things and learn new skills. I will post my progress and results. However, if something I am learning is also interesting to you, then by all means please join me. If you are interested in playing the ukulele, then what better time to get started. If you do decide to follow a long, please leave comments and let us all know how it is going.

For those interested in learning the Ukulele here are some links:

Ukulele For Beginners- Basic tips to buy and play the ukulele.

Ukulele Underground- Ukulele Forum

Beginner Ukulele- Page with various helpful videos

I still haven’t decided all four of the songs I will learn, but will post them when I do. At the moment I am sure on “E Huli Makou” and “Somehwere Over The Rainbow”.  I am also currently working on “Stand By Me”.

So far the hardest part for me is singing a long while I am playing. I tend to get lost. Just need more practice.

When I first moved to Miyakojima, Japan I was in love with the culture and music (actually I still am). The traditional instrument here is the sanshin, which is a three stringed banjo type instrument. After attending several festivals and listening to a lot of Okinawan music, I joined a class and learned to play the sanshin myself.

However, after playng for a couple of years I started to notice the instruments limits. Playing was fun, but the sanshin has a very distinct sound which limits it to playing Okinawan music.

My wife, who was dancing hula, started playing the ukulele. After doing a bit of research on the web looking for different songs, I realized how broad an ukulele really is. Basically it is like a mini guitar. At first I started playing in a Hawaiian Ukulele group (and may eventually go back), but decided I wanted to learn to play more modern songs.

After a bit of searching on Youtube, I found a good video to learn the simplified version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz on the ukulele.

The Ukulele is a lot of fun and is pretty easy to learn. I am by no means a musician, so if I can do it anyone can.

I would say that the most difficult part is finding a good ukulele for beginners. I started out with a cheap Mahalo ukulele we got from a catalogue as a gift. It didn’t make much sound, and the sound it did make was horrible. If you want to play the ukulele, then I recommend you spend a little more to get something decent. You can find decent ukuleles for sale for around $60 and can get ones that are pretty good for around $100-$150.

If you do plan to buy an ukulele, then I recommend that you try to find a place that you can check them out and play them. There are a lot of ukuleles for sale and they come in different sizes and have different sounds. Getting the wrong one (like I did) can take away from that fun.

And remember that like anything, learning an instrument is simple repetition. If you do something a lot, you will get good at it.

Final with painted keyboard tray

In the last post I talked about the steps I took to make a cheap slide out desk tray. However, I hadn’t put any final finishes on it. Basically I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make it white like the rest of the desk or stain it wood colored. As you can see I didn’t do either. My friend had some extra paint left over from painting a few shelves, and I thought the dark brown would be a good contrast to the otherwise complete white.

At this point the desk is pretty much complete. However, I am considering adding a sing shelf under the desk. I still haven’t decided yet.

If you decide to build your own, be sure to let me know about it. I would love to see the pictures when it’s done.

DIY Computer Slide Out Tray

Last week I made a post talking about how to make a computer desk. After I got my new Imac, I realized that I needed more desk space. I also wanted my keyboard and mouse a little lower. Having it too high was making my arms tired. Simply put, I needed a slide out tray.

There are slide out trays available for sale, and I checked those first. Unfortunately, most were pretty expensive. I didn’t want to spend $40 on a tray when I only spent $25 on the entire desk. The other difficulty was was finding one here in Japan.

You can probably figure where this is going…

I decided to build my own. Building a slide out keyboard tray is actually quite simple. All you need are some sliding mechanisms (like what any drawer would have), a piece of wood for the tray, and a couple of brackets to mount it to the desk. All of the parts together cost me less than $10.

I designed my tray to be very low-profile, but you could put it at any height you want to. Mine is actually such a low profile I have to turn the keyboard sideways to allow the tray to slide back in. It still needs to be sanded and painted, but you get the idea.

Now, what to do for a chair?

Last month I had bad luck with computers. My power chord on my main computer died, so I bought a new one which also burned out. No power chord basically meant that my computer was virtually useless. I decided to switch to an iMac. The reason for this was actually convenience. My dad had an iMac I bought him a couple of years ago that he was no longer using since I got him an iphone.

Losing the ability to use your computer or having a computer die makes you think about your files. I keep all of my important files backed up on an external hard drive, but that can also die. I finally decided what I needed was  a place online to store my files. That way I would have the ability to access them regardless of what computer I was using or where I was.

I wasn’t actually looking for a place to keep all of my files, but just a few select ones that I didn’t want to loose.

I looked at a few different sites, and finally decided on Dropbox for two reasons. One, it had applications on available on many platforms. Two, you start out with 2GB of space, but get an additional 250mb of space (up to 10Gb) for every person that you refer. Not a bad deal.

The user interface is also good. Dropbox shows up as a folder and whatever you put into it gets uploaded to your Dropbox file.

So here is my referral link to Dropbox. If you use this link we both get an additional 250mb of space.

Click here to Sign up for Drop Box

Once you sign up, please feel free to comment on how you like it or don’t. Also, feel free to comment if you have found a better service.

Computer Desk Materials

Two of the panels are basically used as is. Though I did remove some of the bottom panels for a little more leg room. I dismantled the third panel for parts, which became the legs.

Bottom Panel

Then I just took longer boards I removed from the other pallet and connected the two.

Pallet Computer Desk with Legs

Lastly, I added a couple of cross braces to add stability, and painted the entire thing white. Depending on your location, you may be able to get away without staining or painting, but in the high humidity we have here it would probably have already rotted away.

Completed and painted

And since my new computer arrived yesterday: here is the final result!

Desk with iMac

The only thing left is to build a slide out trey for the keyboard and mouse. I am still thinking about the best way to go about it. Let me know if you have any ideas.

The iPhone is a pretty cool gadget. By cleverly combining a computer with a cell phone, the iPhone has basically changed the cell phone industry overnight. And this isn’t just the case in the US. I live in Japan and the market here is now almost completely dominated by smart phones. So why if it’s so great, am I giving mine up? Let me explain.

When I first got my iPhone it was great. It allowed me to make phone calls, connect to all of my social media programs, use Skype, have a decent Japanese program, and not to mention the ability to watch YouTube from bed. It seemed perfect.

However, my love affair was soon ended when I received my first bill. The cost was over triple what I was previously paying. All of a sudden all of those extra features didn’t seem quite as valuable. The idea was that when I was in the house I would use wifi, so I wouldn’t get charged for using data. The problem was that the iPhone switched between the two and my data plan was maxed every month. So in order to make sure this didn’t happen I had to turn off 3G, which meant that I then couldn’t use email.

Now, the problem wasn’t actually with the iPhone, it was with the phone companies. They realized they had something people wanted and could charge a fortune for it. They created all kinds of new plans which REQUIRED you to opt into various services, which weren’t required with other phones even though they accessed data the same way. And since people were so thrilled with their smart phones, no one seemed to care.

After having my iPhone for over two years, I have come to the realization that an iPhone is a cool device. It combines the abilities of a cell phone and a tablet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do either one if these things as well as the originals. A basic phone costs far less and will allow you to make phone calls easier and cheaper than a smart phone. You also don’t have to worry so much about it getting damaged or lost. I can’t tell you how many times I leave my iPhone in the car (leaving me without a phone) when I go to the beach, for a jog, etc.

Yes, it can be used as a mini tablet, but the screen is too small to make it comfortable to do so. You have to spend too much time scrolling back and forth on the screen.

So yesterday I shut off my iPhone and am back with a regular cell phone. This time I went real simple and my bill is a third of what it was. That will easily save me enough to save up for a tablet in a few months if I choose to do so.

My new cell phone isn’t amazing, but it does something great that my iPhone never did that well: it works as a cell phone.

Trying lots of new things is a great idea and will help you find what you really like. The ones that you stay with and get good at will give you the most benefit. 

However, there are also times when we should give things up.

For example, let’s say that you decide to try and learn the piano. You purchase a book, take some lessons, and learn to play a little. However, after time goes by, you find yourself playing less and less. It’s not that you don’t like to play, but it isn’t important enough or enjoyable enough to make a priority. Unfortunately, the entire time it will be on the back of your mind that you should be playing more. As long as you keep it in your mind that you will “practice tomorrow”, that guilt will keep nagging at you. Deciding to just quit can help relieve some of that stress.

So when should you not quit?

When you enjoy it too much. You don’t care how good you get, but you sit down and play everyday anyways. Doing something because you love it is always better than doing something because you think you have to.