Randy Jensen Online http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:15:07 +0000 en hourly 1 Randy Jensen Online http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/wp-content/themes/rjo/style/images/favicon.ico http://www.randyjensenonline.com/thoughts 32 32 Randy Jensen Online randyjensenonlinethoughtshttp://feedburner.google.com Destination: Guatemala http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/8ZljKxeFKDw/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-guatemala/#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:00:56 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=1714 G U A T E M A L A 2 of ?

Intro What’s Going On?

Seven months after my Himalayan trek in Nepal, it’s time to tackle a couple active volcanoes in Guatemala. After the three day trek I’ll be off to Lake Atitlan for a two day adventure with kayaking, rock climbing and cliff diving. Finishing [...]]]>

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Intro

What’s Going On?

Seven months after my Himalayan trek in Nepal, it’s time to tackle a couple active volcanoes in Guatemala. After the three day trek I’ll be off to Lake Atitlan for a two day adventure with kayaking, rock climbing and cliff diving. Finishing up the trip will be two days in Antigua where we’ll be doing the more normal touristy stuff but will hopefully be able to check out some of the ancient Mayan ruins.

The two volcanoes I’ll be climbing are Pacaya (8,370ft / 2552m) and Fuego (12, 342ft / 3763m). In Nepal, the highest point I went to was around 15,500ft so this won’t be quite as high, but did I mention there will be lava…and marshmallows? We’ll also sleep atop the peaks and wake up early to sip some wine and watch the sunrise.

The two days in Antigua are being planned by my travel buddy so what happens then will be a surprise to me. She mentioned a visit to a place that gives tours of the coffee making process with complementary bag of fresh Guatemalan coffee. Yes, please. Sadly it doesn’t look like we’ll make it to Tikal, but that will give me a reason to come back someday.

The pictures above were provided by the amazing Zach Ware. You can see all of his Guatemala pics on his Flickr page.

As usual, here are some fun facts about Guatemala to stuff down your gullet.

About Guatemala

  • Capital

    Guatemala City: population 2.5 million

  • Size

    About the size of Tennessee

  • Language

    Spanish, 24 major Mayan languages

  • History

    Gained independence in 1821 (from Spain)

  • Government

    Democratically elected every 4 years

  • National Flower

    Lycaste Skinneri Alba

  • National Bird

    Quetzal

  • National Anthem

    Himno Nacional

  • Population

    13,550,440

  • National Motto

    "País de la Eterna Primavera"

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-guatemala/feed/ 2 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-guatemala/ Handcrafted WP Starter Theme http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/kFO3pcaLoCw/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/handcrafted-wp-starter-theme/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:30:40 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=1555 Randy Hoyt

www.randyhoyt.com

Randy Jensen

www.randyjensenonline.com

Handcrafted WP is a starter theme built for WordPress developers who are doing more than building blogs. The theme is based on Ian Stewart’s Toolbox Starter theme and Paul Irish & Divya Manian’s HTML5 Boilerplate plus some other awesome features based off our years of experience. [...]]]>

Handcrafted WordPress HTML5 Starter Theme

Download the Handcrafted WP Starter Theme
A Handcrafted WP Production
Randy Hoyt

Randy Hoyt

www.randyhoyt.com

Randy Jensen

Randy Jensen

www.randyjensenonline.com

Handcrafted WP is a starter theme built for WordPress developers who are doing more than building blogs. The theme is based on Ian Stewart’s Toolbox Starter theme and Paul Irish & Divya Manian’s HTML5 Boilerplate plus some other awesome features based off our years of experience. This is not a framework, but an almost-naked starter theme that gives you a rock solid starting point for crafting a serious website on the WordPress platform.


Learn More About the Handcrafted WordPress HTML5 Starter ThemeDownload the Handcrafted WordPress HTML5 Starter Theme

Wicked Awesome Features

  • HTML5
    Full HTML5 markup with HTML5Doctor’s reset
  • Target IE
    Conditional tags on <head> so no hacks needed
  • Managed Menus
    Header, Footer & Utility menus ready to go
  • Cleaner <head>
    Clean up the default code in the head
  • lowercase_p_dangit
    capital_p_dangit is dead on arrival (you’re welcome)
  • Dashboard Widgets
    Easily disable dashboard widgets for clients
  • Asynchronous Google Analytics
    Optimized GA script thanks to @mathias
  • Custom Post Type
    Default custom post type ready to go
  • Hide Meta Boxes
    Hide meta boxes on Post & Page screens
  • jQuery
    jQuery from Google CDN with local fallback
  • HTML5Shiv
    Enable HTML5 support in IE
  • Post Formats
    Ready to go for 3.1

Digging Deeper

Since this video was made, some things have changed. Namely, Modernizr is no longer bundled and Remy Sharp’s HTML5shiv has taken its place. Not enough people seemed to use it so the overhead wasn’t worth it. Post formats has also been added in the functions.php for when 3.1 goes gold. The changelog will always be available here.

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/handcrafted-wp-starter-theme/feed/ 89 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/handcrafted-wp-starter-theme/ WordPress Custom Post Type Icons – Fugue Edition http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/vTArZCgN2q4/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/wordpress-custom-post-type-fugue-icons/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:35:32 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=1433 The best new feature in WordPress 3.0 has to be the ability to easily create custom post types. After you’ve created your post type you’ll see it show up in the admin menu with the same “pin” icon as the Posts menu has. This isn’t a huge deal, but it also isn’t [...]]]> The best new feature in WordPress 3.0 has to be the ability to easily create custom post types. After you’ve created your post type you’ll see it show up in the admin menu with the same “pin” icon as the Posts menu has. This isn’t a huge deal, but it also isn’t difficult to change the icon as long as you have icons to use.

So, thanks to Yusuke Kamiyamane’s great Fugue icon set, I’ve created a sprited icon set made to match the WordPress admin icons. Just add the icon you want into your parent theme’s images folder and add a piece of code to the functions.php file and you’re done.

Update: Please make sure to read Jeff Rose’s comment below. Basically, in the video, I tell you that if you use underscores in your custom post type that WordPress strips these out. Well in 3.2, it no longer does. This means that the CSS will break, so you’ll just need to add the underscores back in from now on.

Download

Custom Post Type Icon Set Download Button

Functions.php code

<?php
add_action( 'admin_head', 'cpt_icons' );
function cpt_icons() {
    ?>
    <style type="text/css" media="screen">
        #menu-posts-POSTTYPE .wp-menu-image {
            background: url(<?php bloginfo('template_url') ?>/images/YOURIMAGE.png) no-repeat 6px -17px !important;
        }
	#menu-posts-POSTTYPE:hover .wp-menu-image, #menu-posts-POSTTYPE.wp-has-current-submenu .wp-menu-image {
            background-position:6px 7px!important;
        }
    </style>
<?php } ?>

How to Use

Asides
1) I say “plugin” in the video and obviously mean “icons”.
2) I added an extra snippet of CSS to make sure the highlighted icon stays lit when the menu is dropped down. This isn’t shown in the video, but just remember to update POSTTYPE everywhere you see it.
3) It’s best practice to name your custom post types something more obscure. So instead of “robot” use something like “yourinitials_robot” or “yourcompanyname_robot”. Hat tip to Randy Hoyt.

Follow Me On Twitter

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/wordpress-custom-post-type-fugue-icons/feed/ 61 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/wordpress-custom-post-type-fugue-icons/ HTML5-ified Twenty Ten http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/jBq5VSbZJgQ/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/html5-ified-twenty-ten/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:30:47 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=1283 So we all know WordPress 3.0 ships with a shiny new theme called Twenty Ten. You probably also know that this theme is "HTML5" ready. What does that mean? Not much. Basically that the code validates and the doctype is the new HTML5 doctype. No <header>, <footer>, <asides>, etc to [...]]]> WordPress Logo

HTML5-ified Twenty Ten

twentyten ImageSo we all know WordPress 3.0 ships with a shiny new theme called Twenty Ten. You probably also know that this theme is "HTML5" ready. What does that mean? Not much. Basically that the code validates and the doctype is the new HTML5 doctype. No <header>, <footer>, <asides>, etc to be found (understandably). So I decided to take the theme and make it as HTML5-ified as possible.

My goal was not to rewrite the theme or take out the bloat or create something you should use in production in lieu of the stock theme, but just to try and get a better handle on how we as developers are going to be writing markup in the near future. I really see this as a way for the community to give input as to how, say, the <asides> tag should be used. Or maybe whether the author section should be wrapped in its own <section>.

Even though this will obviously be WordPress-theme-centric, its purpose is to get a better handle on writing HTML5 markup for any site.

I’ll be updating the theme based on the feedback I get – Leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @randyjensen. Again, I’m really curious to see how each person interprets each tag and its purpose. This is a place to openly discuss HTML5′s new tags and how they should or should not be used.

Download HTML5-ified twentyten

<Asides>

Thanks to Mark Pilgrim for his Dive into HTML5 book
Also thanks to Randy Hoyt for double checking the code
And if you’re looking for an awesome HTML5 WordPress starter theme, Ian Stewart has you covered.

Follow Me On Twitter

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/html5-ified-twenty-ten/feed/ 25 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/html5-ified-twenty-ten/ Destination Nepal – Part 1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/r8yk2xNXsTw/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-nepal-part-1/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:08:04 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=1129 N E P A L 1 of ?

Intro What’s Going On?

I’ve never been out of the United States…yet. Soon, I’ll be traveling to the other side of the world to visit the land locked country of [...]]]>

Destination

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Intro

What’s Going On?

I’ve never been out of the United States…yet. Soon, I’ll be traveling to the other side of the world to visit the land locked country of Nepal.

I’ll be spending the majority of the time on a 17 day trek through the Cyclopean Himalayas where most people do the Everest base camp trek. Of course as we learned last week, I’m not big on cliches so I’ll be doing the Gokyo Ri renjo la pass trek which takes you to the Gokyo Lake Valley up the Dutch Kosi River.

Some of the highlights will be visiting Sherpa villages & monasteries, amazing views of Everest as well as Cho Oyu, Gyanchung Kang, Lothse, Makalu, Cholatse and Tawachee (other large peaks in the Himalayas).

The details are still a bit hazy at this point but the rest of my trip will be spent either on an Elephant backed jungle safari or just exploring Nepal on my own.

It’s unlikely that I’ll be doing anything relating to technology other than sending a few tweets and some text messages to friends and family to let them know I’m alive, but this blog will be where I’ll post everything when I’m back.

Also, If anyone has any experiences from their trips that they would like to share to a n00b traveler, I would love to hear them.

Here are some fun facts about Nepal for you to chew on.

About Nepal

  • Capital

    Kathmandu: population 702,000

  • Size

    Slightly larger than Arkansas

  • Language

    Nepali (official) & 20 other languages

  • History

    Gained independence in 1768

  • Government

    The Sarbochha Adala (Supreme Court) is the highest court

  • National Flower

    The spectacular rhododendron ‘guras’ in Nepali

  • National Bird

    Danphe

  • National Anthem

    "May Glory Crown Our Illustrious Sovereign"

  • Population

    23,200,000 (2001 census)

  • National Motto

    "The Motherland Is Worth More than the Kingdom of Heaven."

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-nepal-part-1/feed/ 10 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/destination-nepal-part-1/ Quotes http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/D711L-28feA/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/quotes/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:00:13 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=970 I love quotes. I use them all the time & believe the people who lay claim to them have a propitious brilliance to them.

That being said, the rise of Twitter & Facebook have turned these time-tested nuggets of genius into nothing more than a series of fleeting, meaningless brain farts in the [...]]]>

I love quotes. I use them all the time & believe the people who lay claim to them have a propitious brilliance to them.

That being said, the rise of Twitter & Facebook have turned these time-tested nuggets of genius into nothing more than a series of fleeting, meaningless brain farts in the wind. I want to change that 110%.

I decided to take two that seemed interesting & relevant to me and look into their history and how they’ve changed over the years. Hopefully I can bring some meaning back while figuring out exactly how they fit in with my current situation.

You Can't Have Your Cake And Eat It Too Quote
Pinup Girl Holding Flag

To attempt to gain all the positive aspects of something whilst avoiding any negatives – Quotations

This quote first made its appearance in 1956 as “wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?” by English writer John Heywood. This is the same playwright who gave us “Rome was not built in one day” and “Nothing is impossible to a willing heart”.

The quote’s brilliance lies in its grammatically peculiar use of the word “have”. In modern English “to have” usually refers to something that’s going to be consumed. For example, while in Cambodia, you may say “I’ll have the fried tarantulas with a bowl of rice”. The quote uses it in the literal meaning, to take ownership.

This is why you’ll often hear the phrase reversed in order to explain it. “You can’t eat your cake and have it too”.

But more importantly than all this historical madness: Why Not? Fortune does favor the bold right? Why can’t I have a job that I’m happy with and still make enough money to satisfy my need for ball-point pens? Maybe the cake truly is a lie. Why can’t bold, intelligent decisions be made where the optimal positive outcome is achieved?

This quote seems to encompass almost every decision you make every day. It’s the cliche battles between good/evil, open/closed, happy/sad. It’s what I like to call The Paradox of Life. So is this just a fact of life or a limitation of humanity?

Maybe people just don’t know how to solve a problem in an elegantly & acceptable way on their first try in order to have the best of both worlds. Maybe you can have your cake and eat it too, but only after your second or third slice.

I know there’s a joke about America in there….the pieces are there, someone put it together for me.

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions Quote
Pinup Girl With Book

Of the two quotes I chose, this one intrigues me the most. How can doing good things be bad? More importantly, how can doing good things go bad so often, that a quote is born & becomes one of the most cliche quotes in history?

After doing some research, this quote is undeniably steeped in history. Most people credit Samuel Johnson as the author of the original quote "Hell is paved with good intentions". However, the quote was accompanied by a footnote stating it was in reference to another quote, sourced in 1651.

The earliest date I found was between 1091-1153 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. He was originally quoted as saying "Hell is full of good intentions or desires".

Whatever you believe its superhero-like back story to be, it’s clear that people have been doing good deeds only to have everything blow up in their face for many years. I already feel better.

So what the hell does this all mean? There seems to be quite a few explanations of it but I’m only going to hit on a few.

First, let’s look at the phrase “good intentions”. This seems to have two meanings. One: You had the intention to do something, but didn’t follow through. Two: You actually completed a task/motive with an intention in mind. This difference leads me into the first and possibly the most obvious meaning.

Having good intentions but no follow through is meaningless. How often do people say that they want to help with a charity or help homeless people or something else they know they don’t really care about enough to take action. And perhaps even if they do take action, is it for the right reasons? According to this quote, probably not.

This type of egoism is far too common and Chas Grundy may have summed it up best by saying "One can argue there is no true altruism". Sigh.

Now that we’ve determined that all humanity is morally corrupt, what else does the quote represent?

If we take the meaning of “good intentions” as something you completed or started with what you envisioned as a positive outcome, you truly begin to see why to err is human.

As soon as emotions and opinions are mixed into decision making, chaos is guaranteed. Add to that our innate inability to fully understand the depth of a situation while believing we know what’s right and you have the perfect mix for one of the greatest quotes of all time.

After thinking about this quote, it seems that the most important part of it has been lost in its current form. I would raise that it should be stated as "The road to hell is paved with good intentions & desires", truer to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s original thought.

So how does this tie into my life? Something I learned is that people are the way they are because that’s just who they are. It’s none of anyone’s business to try to "help" people, especially unprovoked. After all, haven’t we learned that this is all merely a case of misguided egoism?

If there's only one answer quote

I didn’t know exactly where this post was headed, but I ended up finding it pretty interesting to dig into the history of a ton of different quotes and even got a glimpse into the mind of the authors.

What did you think? What’s your favorite cliche quote?

Special thanks to mmmmm girl for the pinup girl pictures.

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/quotes/feed/ 0 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/quotes/ CSS3Generator: A Side Project Gone Wild http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/f1X9-t6bM6Q/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/css3generator-a-side-project-gone-wild/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:29 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=946

Lately I’ve been using more CSS3 in my projects. Mostly basic stuff like border-radius, box-shadow, text-shadow, etc. I got sick of typing the duplicate code needed to get these to work cross-browser (I’m looking directly at you border-radius).

So last week I had a crazy idea to create a simple tool that would [...]]]> CSS3 Generator CSS3Generator

Lately I’ve been using more CSS3 in my projects. Mostly basic stuff like border-radius, box-shadow, text-shadow, etc. I got sick of typing the duplicate code needed to get these to work cross-browser (I’m looking directly at you border-radius).

So last week I had a crazy idea to create a simple tool that would create some cross-browser CSS3 code based on whatever values you wanted. I spent about 10 minutes gathering the CSS properties that I used the most and threw a few random ones in for good measure. Then I spent about 10 more minutes sketching out the UI for it and deciding what my feature set was going to be. I sat down to write the code Friday night and Saturday morning until I got to a stopping point where it had the basic functionality I wanted.

You chose something from the drop-down, an area showed up for you to enter your values along with a box where you could get your auto-generated code. Simple & useful. I called it the CSS3Generator.

Then I decided it might be a good idea to actually buy the domain name so I had a place to put this on the internets. Novel idea right. I threw it up there, sent out a Tweet basically saying it wasn’t ready for prime time, but I was giving my followers a sneak peek.

CSS3Please from Paul IrishThis is where it gets crazy. I woke up Monday and was sifting through my RSS feeds when I came across this post from Ajaxian about Paul Irish’s very cool CSS3Please tool. I decided to leave a comment with a link to my own CSS3 Generator and didn’t think anything more of it.

A week went by with little traffic and then something happened. All of the sudden I was getting 100′s of visitors at a time. My Twitter stream went nuts. It was written up by several large web design blogs and was Tweeted by Smashing Magazine and Ryan Carson. I still don’t know exactly what set it off, but that’s the beauty of the internet.

I hurried up and finished the Live Preview feature of the site, which consequently broke the site in Safari on the Mac, but I thought it was an important enough feature to push it live anyway.

It’s still pretty amazing to me that a simple tool I created over the course of a few days has been so useful to so many people. I’m just glad I decided to throw Woopra on there (something I forgot to do when I initially launched it) so I could sit here and watch the chaos unfold. It’s crazy to see how connected and viral the internet is. Beautiful chaos I suppose.

CSS3 Generator

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/css3generator-a-side-project-gone-wild/feed/ 8 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/css3generator-a-side-project-gone-wild/ Everyone Makes Mistakes Wallpaper http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/-8qLtuvDOeY/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/everyone-makes-mistakes-wallpaper/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:16:49 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=882 I recently wrote a post on How Skydiving is Like Life. While searching around for a fitting quote, I came across one from Oscar Wilde. "Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes."

I loved this quote and decided to make some wallpaper with a little twist.

Also, a huge thanks to [...]]]> I recently wrote a post on How Skydiving is Like Life. While searching around for a fitting quote, I came across one from Oscar Wilde. "Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes."

I loved this quote and decided to make some wallpaper with a little twist.

Also, a huge thanks to Wete for the use of the Deibi V1.0 font.

Everyone Makes Mistakes Wallpaper (Blue)
1024X768 | 1280X800 | 1280X1024 | 1440X900 | 1600X900 | 1680X1050

Click the image for a preview, or choose your screen resolution to download


Everyone Makes Mistakes Wallpaper (orange)1024X768 | 1280X800 | 1280X1024 | 1440X900 | 1600X900 | 1680X1050

Click the image for a preview, or choose your screen resolution to download

And a special Valentine’s edition…because it was forced upon me.

Everyone Makes Mistakes Wallpaper (pink)1024X768 | 1280X800 | 1280X1024 | 1440X900 | 1600X900 | 1680X1050

Click the image for a preview, or choose your screen resolution to download

]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/everyone-makes-mistakes-wallpaper/feed/ 1 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/everyone-makes-mistakes-wallpaper/ How Skydiving Is Like Life http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/ZRQTHHx09vk/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/how-skydiving-is-like-life/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:16:54 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=497

Skydiving may be a little extreme, but this rings true in every aspect of our lives. Get out of that routine if you care about your health at all.

Routines are a part of who we were, not who we are. People began to create [...]]]>

How Skydiving Is Like

Life

1

Put Yourself In an Uncomfortable Situation

Drew Barrymore Quote

Skydiving may be a little extreme, but this rings true in every aspect of our lives. Get out of that routine if you care about your health at all.

Routines are a part of who we were, not who we are. People began to create routines when the world was unpredictable and finding food and shelter was filled with risk and danger. Things are still a bit unpredictable, but for the most part, when you turn your faucet on, water comes out. When you flip a light switch, your room is showered in warm yellow light. When you’re hungry, food is just a refrigerator (or a McDonalds) away.

Our brain is craving to be simulated. Your boring routines are far too simple and…well, boring for it. Ever wonder why when you force yourself to relax and just take a deep breath of the cold, brisk air, you feel stimulated and renewed? It’s because we get so caught up with our normal routine, our senses are deprived of what they were designed to do: discover new things. I promise skydiving will force you out of this routine, but if that’s too much, take a different way to work tomorrow. Watch a different show on tv. Go to the gym at a different time, or go to the gym period.

Your mind is trained to seek out the unexpected. So why are you holding out? Turn your brain on…you prude.

Plane Separator

Guy On Edge Of Plane

2

Just Jump

This is the hardest thing to do. Period. Jumping into something new and unknown is scary as hell and most of us need that little extra push. I know when I first went skydiving, had I not been strapped to an instructor who said “if you go up, you’re coming down, and it won’t be in the plane”, there’s no way I would have jumped. None. I needed a push, and I got it.

But honestly, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? You’re going to have an unpleasant experience and learn something new about yourself? Or worse…you’ll enjoy yourself. Blasphemy!

Plane Separator

3

Things Will Work Out…For the Better

W

ell, maybe not immediately, but give it a second.

I remember the second time I went skydiving, I jumped and couldn’t get stabilized for a few seconds. My legs were up, my arms out to the side & my chest out, but we kept spinning in mid-air no matter what I did. Even though it was just a few seconds, it felt like forever. I definitely remember that panicking feeling that immediately hits you whenever you’re out of your comfort zone and not in complete control (more on that soon).

After repositioning myself a few times and my instructor helping out as well, we got back under control and it was smooth falling from there on out. Going back to the brain talk, we’re made to solve problems. Putting yourself in a situation where things aren’t 100% laid out is exactly what you’re brain is craving. It needs these opportunities to stay active.

And think of it this way. The next time someone acts like an idiot at work, there’s really nothing to get bent out of shape over. I mean seriously, it’s not like you’re falling out of a plane or anything.

Relax. Breathe. Things will work out…for the better.

Plane Separator

4

You’re In Control. Even When You’re Not

Skydive Tandem

Contrary to what you think, skydiving is not like a rollercoaster. The falling sensation you get when you’re coming down from a huge ramp on the rollercoaster doesn’t exist when you skydive.

Our eyes are unable to calculate proper depth perception at such high altitudes, so you’re just there…in the sky. Chillin. And it feels amazing.

When you think about jumping, you think that you are going to be at the mercy of mother nature. The odd thing is, when you’re falling you’re in more control than you could ever imagine. Slight turns one way or the other allow you full control of your body while you’re falling. And after you pop the ‘chute, you’re in even more control. You can make it so you stay up there as long as possible, enjoying the view. Or you can pull one side of the parachute down hard and enter into a spin that will get you to the ground much quicker. You are in control.

I hear so many people say life is like a rollercoaster, but is it really? I think you’re more in control of your life that you realize. You just need to jump more often than you do, or have good friends who are willing to push you out of a plane. There’s no need for us to live such up and down lives. We are in control of what we do and who we are. Maybe not always 100% and with perfect accuracy. But we are certainly able to guide ourselves to the landing point quite competently.

Plane Separator

5

Things Will Go Wrong & That’s OK

Oscar Wilde

There’s a reason you have a backup parachute.

And it’s not so you can half-ass pack your first one.

No matter how much you prepare yourself for a new adventure, something will go wrong and it will be out of your control. There’s nothing wrong with this. Hitting a few speeds bumps in the road simply means you’re moving forward, and that’s a good thing. Those people who think they have perfect lives with no problems are either

A) Leading the most boring life anyone could possibly lead
B) Full of Crap or
C) Dead

Maybe those options interest you, but they definitely leave me wanting more.

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My First Skydiving Experience Over a Year Ago

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]]> http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/how-skydiving-is-like-life/feed/ 2 http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/how-skydiving-is-like-life/ My Yoga Experience http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/randyjensenonlinethoughts/~3/bZR4J3xlcZY/ http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/my-yoga-experience/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:09:33 +0000 Randy Jensen http://randyjensenonline.com/thoughts/?p=309 "Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind."

~Patanjali

Fact: I have a terrible problem with relaxing my mind. I’m constantly thinking about anything and everything. You would think this may not be a bad problem to have right? I can assure you that after weeks of sleepless nights, you’re quickly turned [...]]]> My Yoga Experience

"Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind."

~Patanjali

Fact: I have a terrible problem with relaxing my mind. I’m constantly thinking about anything and everything. You would think this may not be a bad problem to have right? I can assure you that after weeks of sleepless nights, you’re quickly turned into a walking zombie and the jubilation of coming up with new ideas daily becomes more of a burden than a gift.

I tried different things to relax. Taking melatonin, which in part, regulates the sleep-wake cycle by chemically causing drowsiness and lowering the body temperature which seemed to help sometimes but not always and not completely. I tried chamomile tea which was very relaxing but did little else. Of course I tried the occasional warm bath, but those were short lived. I also tried reading which I love to do and never do enough, but this only distracted me for short periods of time. Think Peter Griffin and a shiny red ball.

As you can tell, I’m going to a natural remedy here. I wouldn’t call myself a hippie, although that’s been known to happen, but I would much rather find something that actually fixes the problem. Prescriptions for these sort of things seem to simply mask the problem by clouding the brain instead of re-wiring it to be more efficient.

So in an attempt to assuage my mind, I bought a Yoga DVD…about 6 months ago. This DVD sat on my computer desk for the past five and a half months, waiting for me to give it a chance. I finally did. And so far? I’m incredibly happy with how I feel. I feel more energized and much more focused almost immediately after starting Yoga.

I used to wake up and immediately get on my computer and start checking tech news. Now I get up and begin doing Yoga which not only allows me to wake up more gradually, but actually relaxes me before I start pumping information directly into the IV in my arm (I had this surgically done. Of course I had to wait for Heidi Montag who was apparently on the waiting list of every plastic surgeon in North America).

I’m hoping to keep doing this for much longer than a few months to see what benefits it offers over an extended length of time. I’ll try to post an update in 6 months to a year to gauge my progress.

Until then, I would seriously recommend giving this a shot if you’re stressed out, have back pain or if you just want a new challenge in life (and yes, it actually is a challenge).

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