The Lewis Show

I Feel Like Writing

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 21:58:00 +0000

I think my title says it all. It also implies that today I feel like writing, and tomorrow I will not feel like writing. Time will tell. Considering I have made only a handful of posts in the past seven years, I will remain skeptical.

It has been an interesting couple of years since I posted my farewell to my cat, Topaz. I have since moved, two more cats have passed on, leaving me with one, I am almost finished with college (finally), my teenagers are almost adults, and we adopted a baby boy.

That is entirely too much to delve into deeper in a single writing, but I shall over time, if I continue to write here. I really don't want to write about myself anymore. I never really wanted to in the first place. I think deep down, I wanted to create, and create I shall do.

I had made an attempt to write articles about certain life rules that were set forth by prominent men and women of old. I wanted to write a modern version of "Washington's Rules" and I also wanted to make a deeper dive into stoisism, or other similar philophies. In other words, no longer being the 32 year old man child that I was when I started writing here, I want to write more to the 50 year old man I am becoming.

Wisdom can come pretty fast and in large doses sometimes, and it's wisdom to both observe and retain as much as I can. My hope is that I can turn this into a place where I can post something meaningful or at the very least thought provoking.

Let's go.

September 27, 2019

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 13:34:00 +0000

Dear Topaz,

Today was a very good day. It was seasonable, but a little warm for this late in September. The sun was out, and some clouds rolled in. It felt like a pretty normal day. Work went well. Of course, being Friday, people are in better spirits and with some of the senior leadership out of the office, a few extra laughs were had with my associates.

The ride to work and home was fairly typical. There's still entirely too many people who would prefer to focus on other things rather than driving. It's also nice to see some people heading out of town. I always imagine they're going a happy occasion to see family or celebrate a birthday or a wedding over the weekend.

The boys are doing well. Their grades are holding up. Of course, they're both grounded, for various things. Their room's still a mess. The youngest is getting used to middle school and the oldest decided he likes Green Day. Janine and I are very disappointed in this development, and we hope that he grows out of this terrible phase of his life soon.

Janine is holding up well. She continues on with her education and her work. The past few years, she became accustomed to you curling up with us in bed. I know she loved those extended mornings where you would sleep in with her and help her eat her breakfast. She really enjoyed the warm cuddly times. She thought for years that you would never accept her, and in your last few years, you gave her the best gift of all...your love. Just know she loves you very much too. Thank you for that. I am eternally grateful.

Even though I was often annoyed by your fascination with my feet when it was time to put my shoes on, I found it very endearing. We both will always remember your excitement anytime we got close to the refrigerator and you loudly declaring your interest in a bowl of milk. Our floors will never be cleaner without the constant pick up of vomit, urine, or poop. I always understood your anxiety though, with all of the sudden moves. The bug and bird population, while relieved a fierce predator is no longer among us, will miss you too.

The world continues to move on, but now it moves on without you. At 5:30 PM yesterday, we said goodbye to you and watched the light leave your eyes. For the first time in over 19 years, I continue on with the world. Janine and the boys continue on living their lives day by day as well. The other cats realize the new void in their lives as well. We move on with fond memories and while time will relieve our grief, the next few days will be hard. I know the boys will miss you. They'll always consider you the mean old cat that had nothing to do with them, but they knew you watched them from a distance like a good mamma would. I know Janine loved you very much and she will probably miss you more than all of us.

We go on with the comfort knowing that you no longer feel pain. My hope , as we lay you in your forever spot, is that you rest forever in that sweet, perfect peace. As much as we miss you, this first day without you was a good one, and I know you would have been pleased.

Love,

Mike

The Problem (Really) in Modern Discourse

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 01:53:00 +0000

I always walk this fence where I don't like how politics has injected itself into all of our conversations, but I still occasionally enjoy having them. I think by and large, we all have sensible conversations, but thanks to the internet and social media, we've kind of let the old rules slip away.

I get aggravated by people that I agree with and with people I disagree with online because there's been a huge lack of intellectual honesty the past few years. Someone will find great offense to something one politician does while letting a favored pol pull the same stunt. We've lacked a lot of consistency and this lack of intellectual honesty turns a lot of people off leading them to silence their friends by muting or unfriending them.

The next huge hurdle we face now is that no one really knows about fallacies and basic debate devices that used to lead to productive conversations have been replaced by screaming and mob mentality. A good example is reacting to en errant politician by pointing to another politician that got away with the same mistake.

So all we're left with are non sequitur, straw men, bandwagons, and it's all loud, messy, and I am convinced it's on purpose. People are mostly left to just turn it off and run away, not debating, but surrendering to the noise. It's a shame that these tactics are used because in this day and age. There's a lot of conversations that really need to be both started and completed.

My take away: Learn the fallacies and avoid them. I know there's a lot of them, but if people don't know they're riddled with fallacies, it's going to be hard to be taken seriously. So more important than my blabbing, read them ----> HERE

It's 2017 (a little late)

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 16:44:00 +0000

Yeah, it's been a while. I am sure that most people were quite alright with the prospect of putting 2016 in their rear view mirrors. It wasn't the greatest of years for me, but overall I had a good year.

I began finally after 42 years my forever career. I was hired on by the Commonwealth as a compliance regulator in the life and health insurance industry. I work with a phenomenal group of smart people that are dedicated to ensuring state residents have equitable, reasonable insurance.

My household over the past couple years has grown in ways that I don't care to disclose in a public forum. It has come with its share of challenges and blessings. The passing of time has taught me that while I thought I was fairly wise about the world in my youth, I really had no idea.

As far as my posts here, I fully plan on a mix of cultural and personal blabbing into the next year when I find spare time, which is going to come at a premium more and more as time passes. I have not forgotten my old blog though. I will persevere.

The Drowning Death Spiral of Modern Political Debates

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 21:16:00 +0000

There's nothing like a tragic loss of life for people to tout their political beliefs. And it's so much easier in this social media age. As I've noted many times before though, there's a lot less discourse now and a lot more shouting and yelling.

The weekend tragedy in Orlando is a sad and depressing example of this showboating. In the midst of evil and intolerance, sides have geared up to discuss the merits of gun control again. Yet I don't really hear a coherent debate. What I hear are two sides screaming about two narratives that don't mesh together at all. Picture two children arguing. One wants a video game and the other one wants to eat. The focus is in two different arenas, food and fun.

On one side of the gun debate are people who are strong advocates of constitutional jurisprudence. Passing increased measures to limit a law abiding citizen access to weapons, they believe, will not solve the problem of evil that exists when a bad person obtains one of these weapons. Armed self protection is the best defense against evil, according to them.

On the other side of the debate are those who are justifiably exhausted to see useless lives wasted and want to only see certain types of weapons limited, certain ammo clips, or even ammunition itself restricted. They call for bans on what they call assault weapons including semi automatic rifles. Many do not feel a full ban on every gun is warranted, just the ones that do a lot of damage in a small space in a short period of time.

So what sounds like on the surface a logical debate actually isn't. Both sides are arguing two different points. The anti gun division is not addressing the point made by the pro group division and the pro group division is not properly addressing the concerns of the anti gun division.

Because of this misunderstanding on the proper points for argument, there is no resolution. We either ban these types of weapons or we just arm everybody, but neither reality is going to happen, at least not in any foreseeable future. The abortion argument in the US is similar but that's a completely different animal that I dare not tackle today.

So what would be the proper response to both sides. Here are my humble, novice thoughts:

To the pro gun lobby, the weapons being threatened are standard rifles. You cannot ban a rifle because it's scary looking. The AR 15 is a single shot semi automatic rifle. That means you have to pull a trigger for each shot. Automatic rifles are already banned. One cannot go to the local gun shop and buy by definition an assault weapon in most countries at a gun store.

So banning this weapon means that one would have to ban a wide array of weapons that are used for hunting home defense or are just collector items for thousands of rustic rural Americans. We're talking everything from militaria to squirrel rifles. It would spell the beginning of the end of constitutionally protected rights to bear arms, per their fears.

The anti gun lobby just wants to see an end to mass shootings. It would be preferable for the only guns to exist be the ones that can only fire a round or two before reloading. Carrying or the ability to buy semi automatic rifles should just cease to exist. There is no need to carry large clips, there is no threat from our government. It would just be good common sense if anyone wants self protection, to buy a common non semi automatic handgun.

While this sounds like a valid argument on each side, both arguments belong in two separate debates. And unless someone has a firm grasp on what both sides believe, there will never be a logical agreement. The anti gun lobby does not answer to the concern that they don't know what exactly they are trying to ban while the pro gun lobby really isn't expressing the concern for loss of life at the hands of these tools.

Where can we find the resolution? Understanding how guns work may help the anti gun lobby and understanding the need to limit the ease of purchasing those guns should be the focus of the debate. What laws are in place now? How would future laws prevent future occurrences? What's the best deterrent to someone bent to preform evil? Where are the statistics of gun bans working? Is there less violence or more violence in states that have stricter gun restrictions in place? These points are not truly being discussed and those that think they are merely kid themselves. I know I don't have all of those answers.

It seems that rational debate based on full knowledge of both sides of a coin have been replaced by political grandstanding. It is an election year and I guess I should expect as much.

Where have all the rational voices resolved on finding a solution gone? In the meantime, nothing will get resolved and we will continue to slide into a dark age that I fear we may already be well engaged. An age of either rampant violence and ignorance or fascism where dissenting opinions are squashed in favor of the more popular slant.

Or perhaps an unworkable mixture of both. Scary.

Where is Mike?

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:20:00 +0000

I know I publish so rarely nowadays on my personal blog. People just don't post in traditional means anymore. Most people throw out interesting information and tidbits to their social networks and I'm certainly no exception. But I wanted to post where I could be found if people wanted to interact with me even to this very day.

My Twitter is here.
My Facebook is private to my family (sorry, not sorry).
I write for iTechTriad, a great tech driven publication here.
I write historical articles on Medium here. I'm doing a series on Washington's rules now.

I always look forward to interacting with friends. Please feel free to check me out, follow me, and let me know so I may do the same!

Think Different or I'll Boycott You!

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000

I know I often say I shy away from and avoid political posts. I don't even tolerate it in my social media timelines and in an election year that is a hard task to accomplish. There is something that is bugging me though about the political process and since I have a platform, here I go!

I just wanted to provide two quick reasons why I believe that the boycott is completely asinine in nature and in delivery:

Boycotts are lazy - In this political climate it seems to be easy for some to speak their minds via the retweet, repost, regram, or boycott than to actually bring about any activism. I am not advocating rioting and protesting, but a boycott is incredibly slothful and usually doesn't influence or impress your friends. Often times nowadays lazy activists on the other side will then call in a buycott and the effect is completely null
Boycotts hurt regular people - Someone dear to me works for a company that is a target for a recent boycott because of a policy that they adopted. Avoiding that establishment on principle would be the best way to resolve this issue or communicating said dislike normally sufficies. But by calling for a boycott, that shot caller can then hide behind this slacktivism to declare they made some in-rows with that retailer. This dear person in my life relies on an income to keep her house going, to pay her bills, and to feed her nephews. So when you want to boycott an establishment, think about who's really going to suffer. I'll provide a hint, it's not the executives or CEO that made that unpopular decision.

So what do we do Mike? Honestly, I can't answer that question, but I just wanted to kind of express that I fully intend on buycotting just about any boycott and if I have a problem with the political leanings of an establishment or a state, I'll let my buying power affect change quietly without blaring a big obnoxious bullhorn.

The best service and product is likely not going to be sold by someone who has your exact political leanings and beliefs. If we fully followed boycott logic, many of us would never eat out, go to a movie, watch television, or listen to music ever again. We can stand on our principles in the voting booth and at the register without the fanfare.

What I still hold closest to my heart is that no one on earth has to agree with me, thank you for hearing my side.

Three Years and a Lifetime of Fortune

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Our first Easter brunch in 2007

In 2005, I had to start over. I was 31, I was in a run down apartment in a terrible part of town. I was alone and I had no car. I relied on the kindness of strangers to get me to the grocery store and to work. I could never fully thank them for going out of their way to help me too. One day I will.

In the middle of all of this chaos and rebirth I found someone who literally saved me. I found someone who restored my emotionally and in every way. I found a way to thrive again. She found me on MySpace of all places; she liked my style in music. She was intrigued to find a local tall male available in her area. She asked if we could meet.

So we did.

We had several dates after several conversations and in May 2006, we were a couple. Everything was new again. I was sure my lot in life had been cast to be this wandering bachelor. I was apartment shopping in Texas and Florida. I found completeness in a way I never knew existed. I finally found my partner, my soulmate, my deepest best friend and keeper of my heart.

We moved in together and eventually found a house in the north side of Richmond. We found a great neighborhood. We started to explore and enjoy everything that Richmond had to offer. We had fun. We were enjoying life. We grew closer every day. I wanted to keep her forever.

So I did.

In a dark tiny hotel room in Philadelphia is 2010, I proposed. She said yes. We began a new adventure. Life continued happening to us. We planned an eventual wedding, we worked, and a lot of time passed. Life was comfortable and happy.

We finally decided in 2012 to go ahead and get married. We found a local church, joined it, became familiar with locals in Lakeside and in October, we became husband and wife. In front of friends and family I vowed to devote the rest of my life loving honoring and protecting my bride. She promised the same for me. In front of God and man we began a new adventure as Mr and Ms Lewis.

Life continues to happen. We have custody of our nephews, our lives center around theirs. The trials of life continue to show but we continue to bind together through the bad times and celebrate the good times. We try as hard as we can to slow down time so we can enjoy our lifetime together.

This post is a celebration of me truly finding my way and my happiness through my beautiful wife Janine. My wish is that everyone finds their happiness and their life mate to enjoy it together.

So you must.

What The What?

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 02:45:00 +0000

I know I have not posted in a while. This blogging thing is deader than dead, but I still like to keep this platform open and communicate my life and thoughts with anyone crazy enough to read them. What some may notice though is that there has been a few changes as to how to get to me and what people see when they load thelewisshow.com.

For the past four years almost I have been writing for other publications. I started out in 2011 writing for some friends in an Android centralized news and opinion blog called Android Activist. I then went on to write for RootzWiki which was Android heavy with an emphasis on the open community. Then I took a gig for Tech Dissected which was vastly more my speed, but time constraints, family obligations, and massive writer's block kept me off my game.

So as a result I decided I'm just going to write for myself. I will keep my own thoughts here on this blog that I've possessed for now over 11 years. Eventually things will come together, but for now here is where I will post my life events and thelewisshow is going to become where I write and share my articles and opinions about tech (or whatever I feel like sharing).

I also have ideas for Medium which is another micro blogging platform and I've already started to post over there too, so stay tuned I'll post some more links next time around. Exciting times. I feel like I'm my own person again for the first time in a long time. Stay tuned.

On Memorial Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Mon, 25 May 2015 14:25:00 +0000

Memorial Day (formerly known as Decoration Day) is a day that American's have set aside to remember our fallen veterans. There was originally a Union and Confederate Memorial Day basically at first where we would all have parades in the north and south, celebrate the soldiers that endured that horrific war, and decorate and visit the graves of those that fell. That tradition has taken more of a take time off from work and cook things on the barbecue twist, but veterans made a tremendous sacrifice to give us that freedom.

Today I remember Private Louis Jones. Mr. Jones was my great uncle and died in battle near Frankfort Germany in March 1945. He was part of the 16th Calvary mechanized tank regiment and was was part of that final push to cross the Rhine River allowing the Allies to finally defeat the German war machine. Tens of thousands died like him in World War 2, but since he's family, I wanted to make a mention of him here.

Louis joined the war effort immediately. He enlisted after Pearl Harbor like a lot of eager young American men did after the Japanese sneak attack. A lot of his records after that are not sure, I have to check with the army to see if I can get his assignment records. I do know that he served in several campaigns but at some point he ended up in Patton's tank army and was part of the offensive starting in Africa, liberating Italy and moving up Europe finally meeting his fate in Frankfort.

Like Jones, I only have limited intel about his past. I had to gather stories from my Dad, who never knew Louis Jones and a little from my Mom and her sisters who survived him. My Dad described his brothers as "scary". My Dad is a large, powerful man and is rarely intimidated. He told me that they were all very short men and I could confirm that. My grandmother was barely 4 feet tall. The Jones brothers were all Irish descent and lived in the tobacco growing regions of North Carolina. The brothers all worked on those fields or they worked the saw mill there. I imagine about 4 or 5 very sturdy, rugged, individuals.

Louis was clearly a born fighter like them judging from how quickly he joined the war effort. He had no next of kin outside of his father. He never married, and was memorialized in his hometown in a small simple coffin and my dad has possession of the flag he was draped under. The flag has 48 stars and I remember seeing it as a child and feeling a mix of sorrow and pride.

That feeling is what should be the heart and soul of Memorial Day, so take a moment to remember and be thankful for the freedoms we gained at the expense of their their entire lives.

Washington's Rules

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 21:00:00 +0000

Over the past 18 months, I've done a fair amount of reading about colonial American times. I discovered I had some notable relatives from those times and started researching them in depth. Being a Virginian made things more accessible with the ability to visit a lot of these sites and getting a feel for the times today. I have visited a few sites here in Richmond as well as Fredericksburg and some areas in the Northern Neck.

The close of the 18th century was a fascinating time to be alive. As children we're taught about the American Revolution but so little is taught about culture and in depth profiles into some of the more notable personalities of the day. The most notable being our first President. While he's the most profiled character of his time, what is not as often discussed is why or how he gained such predominance.

George Washington did not earn his legendary status from his accomplishments. With any detailed study it's found he did not string that many great victories together in his life. Washington leaped from one failure to the next with undiminished enthusiasm. He was actually more known from his ambition and from his stature, not his accomplishments.

How did Washington gain such an outstanding reputation and what is this stature that so many wrote about him? Washington followed a set of guidelines created long ago and compiled by Jesuit priests. They were called the Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. As a child, young Washington wrote these disciplines down and made it a point to follow them in his every day life. Washington carried himself to strict, high standards.

One of the rules states "Be not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparagement of any". That is a good example not to be hasty to believe gossip or rumors about a colleague without hearing both sides of that story. From experience we learn that going half cocked without having sufficient facts turns against us almost every time. This is an example of a great rule to follow every day at work, within a circle of friends, and even with family.

I'm going to spend the next several days and weeks dissecting some of these rules. While some of these rules sound archaic (and many rules are in this day and age), they can be applied today to some degree. I believe the result to the person who applies even some of these rules is an immediate bump in stature with their peers and their employers. I know because I have tried a few in my own daily life.

I don't think for a moment these 110 rules should have died with General Washington, I think he showed us all that these disciplines can better all of us regardless of our social or economic standing. I'm no expert on societal matters nor am I anything resembling a historian, but I still believe a heaping dose of respect and regard for fellow man/woman would do great wonders for us all today.

TLS Not Completely Abandoned

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 03:17:00 +0000

I will start writing again, eventually. Life has taken many turns over the past year and none of those events were conducive of writing in any capacity.

I had a change in jobs, I took in two boys, and this winter has been brutal. If i could hibernate right now I would. As you can see, by and large I don't want to go into great detail about my personal business lately. I also know that posting life events from an otherwise simple and quiet life is not the things that people want to read about, so I'm going to start sharing thoughts here that some will hopefully enjoy.

I am still around. I'm alive. I'm thriving. I'll be back.

Thoughts on Williams

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 13:01:00 +0000

We all saw the many reactions and tributes given after news of Williams' death circulated social media. I took the one of speechlessness. We don't associate comedians or funny people with depression or sadness much less suicide. He spent many years fighting addiction and the voices in his head that told him to give up. I am sad to hear that he could not survive it.

There aren't a lot of thoughts that I could add. I can only offer my perspective. Williams first appeared in my life via television on Mork and Mindy. Later one of the first programs we watched on HBO when we got satellite was his performance at the Metropolitan Opera. Then through the years, as I grew older, he was in many movies that I consider favorites. Now in a flash he's gone and we are left wondering what happened or what could have been done to prevent this.

When I saw Williams, I saw a man who never looked comfortable in his skin. He always looked deep down like he was out of place. I never saw in the public spotlight that he was ever ignored or shunned though. He always appeared to be loved and he always appeared to be personable. We don't want to imagine that this sweet soul spent his last minutes convinced he was not loved or admired, but it was probably the case and that is probably what makes us all more sad than anything.

His demons were real and they eventually got the better of him. I would like to think that honest discussions around depression and mental illness would spring from such tragedy, but without real understanding, it will probably not happen. Not yet.

In the meantime what do we do? Be a good friend. Seek help if thoughts of suicide persist. Seek and find your balance, your center, and focus on it. Find peace of mind in this life, it exists.

Lost A Friend

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 02:38:00 +0000

I never like to write posts like this, but I feel the need to share some memories and pay homage and respects to someone I recently lost. A friend of mine and a former roommate in college passed away on Wednesday. David Hobbs probably deserves a book written about him and his exploits but I'll try and do him justice.

I made my first big excursion away from home attending college back in 1996. I had spent a couple years in community college, so I was older than most of the kids in my dorm. Most of them were 18 and I was 21. They were all kids acting like they were attending summer camp, that is all of them but one student.

Hobbs looked like he lived a nice long life already, which was crazy. He was only a couple weeks younger than me, but the man was literally larger than life. Weighing in about 400 lbs. He did take up a good amount of space in those dorm rooms, but he was agile having played football in high school. He was constantly sneaking up on me.

My dorm mates and I were immediately treated to him tormenting his two roommates. He would constantly play pranks on them and find out what pushed their buttons. I heard both roommates screaming at him for his antics. He would constantly miss curfew (we attended a pretty strict college). Once he and his roommates went to the Walmart behind campus and security closed the gate on them. So they hoisted him over the steep hill behind campus. They call came in covered in mud greeted by us cheering uproariously.

Despite hearing these stories and seeing the red lights, I decided to room over the summer. Neither of us were eager to go back home so we took jobs in Lynchburg and decided to stay. I was quickly regretting my decision. Hobbs had one of those alarm clocks that start out quiet but get louder over time. After several minutes the alarm would be screaming and so would I. I eventually cut that cord to that alarm clock and swore to him that we had rodents. He had me seeing red many times.

I ordered a pizza for us one night. It was an extra large Papa John's pizza with bread sticks. No sooner than it was delivered I took a phone call, probably from my parents. Five minutes later I return to the room and the pizza along with the bread sticks were gone. He ate all of it except for the one slice I grabbed before my call. All that remained was a pepperoncini. My reaction was stunned amazement. I wasn't even angry. I think I was in shock.

He kicked my bunk, he took up the entire room by sitting in the middle of the floor, he always played on my computer. He knew how to make me so angry. But over time I began to appreciate him for who he was and figured out that he was a button pusher because the attention and acknowledgement felt good to him. He was proficient for starting trouble and he was just looking for an understanding and willing accomplice. Plucking nerves was his way of endearing himself to people. Those who figured his riddle out he allowed into his inner circle.

So I became his friend that summer. I listened to his stories and let him open himself up to me. I did the same and we were both sad to see that summer end. I went on to leave that school and the state and failed to keep in touch with him. I was lucky to find him on Facebook last year and sent him a few messages. He lost a little bit of weight and got married. He never was the social media type, so we remained out of touch.

He had several medical issues and they eventually got the best of him. I hope his remaining days were happy ones. When looking back I realize that he taught me how to find patience with people. He taught me that it is not outside of the realm of possibilities on this earth to be and have damn good friends and really earn someone's respect.

I will miss the big happy trouble making Louisiana redneck. While he's gone, he'll live on through the people he knew.

I pray you are at peace, my friend.

A Kindle Blast From the Past

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 27 May 2014 00:17:00 +0000

So 2007 called, they wanted this blog post back.

This probably comes almost a decade too late, but up until a week ago, I had never owned a Kindle, never wanted a Kindle. I thought unitaskers such as this were a waste of time and money. The older versions seemed to be very clunky and I felt they were a slow ends to a simple means. I cannot begin to describe how I hated the look of the early Kindle with those keyboards.

Over time I noticed the Kindle improving their UI. Barnes & Noble came in with their Nook, Kobo joined the US market, and they helped push the tech along. Then Apple and Google debuted their more multipurpose tablets. I was very quick to purchase a Nexus 7. I could never justify the expense of an iPad considering the amount of other hardware I owned at the time.

I loved my Nexus 7. When they release an 8" tablet this year, I'll probably still buy it. I even think the iPad Mini is a wonderful device and I'm not partial to Apple products. But this Kindle has blown me away. Where have I been all these years? Where has the Kindle been all my life?

I instantly started reading, but I didn't stop after a few minutes to play a game. I couldn't. The device is not made for doing other things. The ability to get distracted by other things isn't there. With my traditional tablet, I would read and enjoy the flowing page animations as I went from page to page, but I would get bored. My mind would start to race and think of other things besides the content I was reading. I would then find myself engaged with killing zombies with plants or flinging birds at pigs.

This week I have nearly finished a book I started a year ago. I purchased two more books and will probably start reading Game of Thrones again. Now I'm looking for more material. I want to absorb, learn, expand all thanks to this very simple device.

I know it's not perfect. Despite some having back light, this one does not have that. When it's light's out for the night, that's it, I'm looking for my other devices. Not having a keyboard can be a pain. They don't use a QWERTY keyboard, it's in ABC order which drives me crazy. I'm also scared to death I'm going to crush it because of it's size and weight. Getting a cover is not optional with this fragile gadget.

I know this post belongs in the last decade. A simpler time when we had a Texan in office, when DSL was still pretty fast internet, and when gluten was fashionable. I just can't put this device down. The battery cannot be killed, I've tried. It has done the one thing that it sets out to do.....make people read.

Well played, Amazon, well played.

On Remembrance Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Mon, 26 May 2014 19:08:00 +0000

Something has been poking at me the past couple days so I return to get it off my chest. This Memorial Day weekend people will be grilling meats and enjoying time off from work. Some however have taken to their social networks to tell people how they're supposed to observe the holiday. Unless we fall on our knees before God and weep, we're not properly celebrating the holiday and doing a disservice to our troops.

Yes, the purpose of Memorial Day is to quietly reflect on fallen soldiers. We have cemeteries full of people who made a tremendous sacrifice and cannot enjoy this day with us today. Those people choose to end their lives in defense of our liberties and our way of life. I have a lot of family who have fallen in previous wars to enable my freedoms. I take time to remember them today. But they did just that, they gave up their lives to give us the freedom to celebrate in our own way.

If you don't want to observe, don't observe. If you want to drink beer all day and eat grilled meats, then drink your beer and eat your meats. If you want to observe quietly in remembrance of our fallen friends and family, then do just that. The opportunity is there for this freedom because of their deaths.

We should remember them, but to force others leans towards fascism. We should be careful about demanding how others feel and what others say. We are moving towards tyranny centered around elements from the fringe from both ends of the political spectrum.

We have freedom of expression. I hope we don't lose it. THAT would make their sacrifices void and in vain.

First Post of 2014

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 02 May 2014 15:48:00 +0000

I have not written here at all this year. I am alive. It's May already. Let the year officially begin, I guess. I figured I would catch everything up with a random post!

It's not like I'm not writing. I'm a writer and editor over at RootzWiki. I have articles there at least 2 or 3 days a week. I usually just banter on about new apps for my Android phone.
This was a pretty brutal winter. With warm weather comes me going outside and enjoying the weather. That of course goes into my other routines that keep me away from a computer like going to the gym, working on the yard, and tending to family.
Jeff Hanneman (Slayer guitarist) passed a year ago. Always sad to lose metal giants and good guys like him.
I have to admit that I am surprised at the level of GREAT customer service I've gotten since switching to AT&T Wireless last fall. I expected a disaster after not so great service from Sprint, but after having to make several changes to my account which involved calling or going to the store, I am pleased. I've had nothing but good luck so far (knock on wood) at the Brook Road store at VCC.
My job has not changed, but the owner's has. That's taken a mental toll on me during the transition, but the new company is fantastic. I could not have asked to work for a better company.
My yard is still a disaster. I won't even....
Speaking of walking around downtown, the above shot was taken at Shockoe Bottom before the rains came this week. I hear it wants to flood down there something fierce. The James River is a mighty beast when it wants to be.

That's all for me now. I hope I can remember to post more stuff here and there and not completely forget that I have this.....

Black Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 16:16:00 +0000

Sometimes I hold unpopular opinions and I was overdue to share one here.

Janine and I had a discussion three or four years ago about the future of Black Friday. We both agreed that one day in the future, stores would be opening on Thanksgiving Day. We also agreed that was just a terrible thing. I still feel that it is terrible for these stores to be open on Thanksgiving evening. People should spend time with their families and if people don't like their families, then stay home and play a video game or make a turkey sandwich. Don't make people work on Thanksgiving. I still hold that belief, but now that dreaded day is here.

Then I had a thought. What if people want to work on Thanksgiving? What if people want to provide for their families by earning a salary and working on Thursday evening and/or Friday morning? Not all of us have those jobs or live that lifestyle, so we don't completely understand it. We've become quite accustomed and dare I say entitled to sit at home on Thursday and Friday and demand to be paid for it. What is wrong with people earning money on those days by doing actual work?

I still believe these stores should practice some good common sense. The entire black Friday ploy is ridiculous and its a sign of desperation from the now dying brick and mortar retail model. But if they want to do it, if people want to work and make money on those days, and if people want to act like subhuman beasts to save a few dollars on materialism, then I think that's their right. Shunning capitalism in the name of social welfare isn't necessarily going to correct this tear in our moral fabric.

I don't know when this dichotomy arose between good common sense and practicality, but I think it can still be restored. Rest on your principles and don't be so harsh and judgmental to those that don't agree with them. . Retailers are only responding to demand and that is within their right in this still free market. At the end of the (Thanksgiving) day, we as consumers should have the final say.

RIP Winamp 1999 - 2013

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 20:47:00 +0000

It looks like the llama finally prevailed and will no longer be getting its ass kicked.

Aol announced this week that they are going to end support for Winamp effective December 20th. Many of us used Winamp to play downloaded music that was stored on our computers. Over time, cloud services and portable media players made need for applications like this to become increasingly unnecessary.

I will personally miss the application, but I'll probably keep the last version installed on my computer. I remember spending my weekends with my friends in the mid 00's listening to music on Winamp. I would spend hours tweaking it with various plug ins to add bass or decompress the sound of my MP3's. It has always been part of my desktop music life and with this last download next month, that will be it for that chapter of third party music players.

I have to admit I have been using Google's All Access now since last fall and have enjoyed having most every song available on demand. I would recommend any music love to pick the best subscription service for them, be it Spotify, Google, Rdio, and others. I would not hold out any hope for a comeback from these desktop apps. Unless you're playing truly uncompressed FLAC files, it's time to change your way of thinking towards the cloud and services.

So long, Winamp, it's been an interesting 15 years. This all gives me a slight case of melancholy.

Source: Slashgear

Obligatory November Post

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 04:19:00 +0000

It is that time of year again. Every year about this time I typically take to the internet to complain about the leaves falling in my yard. This year is no exception. I have spent the past two weeks moving mountains of dead leaves into our front ditch for county removal.

I've also taken in a few walks around town. I took it upon myself to explore Richmond more since I have been a resident here for over eight years now. There are considerably more interesting places than I imagined and most all of them have been safe. Richmond does have a tendency of wearing it's violent reputation on its sleeve, but I have not feared for my life really at all since I moved here. In fact, I would dare say most of the stories I've heard have been based on misconceptions. Be safe and use common sense, but I have found most of the locals to be quite nice, hospitable, and plenty Southern.

The walking around Brown's Island, the Canal Walk, Belle Isle, Jackson/Madison Wards, the Capitol, even VCU have been enjoyable and educational. I have said often that this area is primed with historical data and I have learned a ton this year. Between the educational field trips, I hope the classes which resume in the sprint will help me continue to expand my mind. I feel like finally I am on the right course and everything is falling into place.

And yes, if anyone feels like tackling an ungodly amount of leaves, just give me a call. I have plenty to tackle. You can have them.

A Birthday Wish

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:53:00 +0000

I have not posted much at all this year. I can make no apologies for that. This is a venue for me to vent about things that are going on in life and the world and my life and my world have been doing just fine this year. For the most part.

I did want to extend a special wish to my Mom this year. She passed away in July. This is the first time I face October 1st without making that call to wish her a special day or ask if Dad played any pranks on her this year. Normally he would do something silly to make sure everyone in the Northern Neck know it was her birthday.

I never took too much of an interest in reading posts from other people who lost parents. I think the whole death thing is something we all have in common. Not many of us predecease our parents and that's how nature works. We all fully expect to bury our parents if we have not already.

Judy was always a mind reader. She knew when something was wrong, she knew when I was happy, and she knew just when to call me to check in. Moms surely have that sixth sense when it comes to us and probably because they faced the same trials that we face now. We don't really understand that until we become parents ourselves. I will certainly miss having this brave woman in my life that sacrificed money, time, and health to accommodate all of my needs.

My birthday wish is probably similar to those in my situation who face a birthday of lost loved one. Do not pass up the opportunity to call, write, or visit them. My Mom was diagnosed with emphysema years ago and we were not surprised at her passing. We watched her slowly fade into the next life. I did not call her nearly enough. We all never call enough. It is very easy to prevent that future regret. One of our last conversations she told me that all she wanted to hear is that I was doing fine. So the last four weeks of her life, I would briefly call and say that I was doing just fine. It made her happy.

I guess my other wish would be for us to take better care of ourselves. My Mom, like most girls in her day, picked up smoking at a very young age. For 40+ years she smoked and it eventually killed her. She knew the consequences but like most people who are addicted to nicotine, it became her friend. That friend killed her and I watched her suffer for years.

She surely did not want me to remember her as someone who fought with every ounce of her being to take her last breaths. I am sure she wants me to remember as the short, fiery, determined yet loving and respectful mother that raised me. I can only try to be as truly good of a person as she was going forward. I know she would appreciate my every effort to be good.

Mom used to sing one particular song to my brother and I every morning as she got us ready for school. For years I had no idea it was an actual song. She used to wake us up singing that she loved us a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. Her mom sang it to her, and she did the same for us. I think I'll be doing the same one day.

Thank you for that, Momma, and Happy Birthday.

A Snark About Snarky Snark And Snark

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:11:00 +0000

There's something to be said for those who give into pop culture hype and hysteria. There's something else that can be said about those who give into the pop culture snark frenzy that follows. There's also something that can be said about those who complain about those who snark about those who give into pop culture hype and hysteria.

Do you really want to sit and talk about Syria? Do you really? We elect people who create entire bureaucracies to sit and talk about Syria. If you want to talk about a troubled girl who embarrassed herself on live television, be my guest. If you want to talk about those who constantly talk about people who talk about people who embarrass themselves on live television, be my guest.

If you want to talk about Syria, or Egypt, or Sudan, become a diplomat. Become a missionary. Become a leader. Otherwise, you're just noise.Out of all of the noise that can be made it's probably the worst noise. If there's a group of people who need to talk less in this loud, fattening social media feeding trough, it's the armchair diplomats. If the world's an inferno and you feel you can fix it, do it! The time for talking about serious world issues ended six thousand years ago.

GMail To Add Tabbed Browsing - Why I'm Not So Impressed

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Wed, 29 May 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Email has become quite a bit of a quandary for most people. Few want to spend any amount of time dealing with them and become quickly frustrated when they do need to actually find something. It can be like finding a piece of hay in a needle stack, as someone once said.

GMail's announcing a fairly innovative system of placing emails in tabs for easier access. Receipts would go under one tab, offers under another, social would go under another tab. This is a great way for people to separate those hundreds of emails and make things a little more organized. That works for most people, except in my case, it's kind of counter productive.

Actual Screenshot - True Fact

You see, in my case, I have zero emails. I consider keeping a load of emails an equivalent of hoarding. No, I'm not the perpetual loner that gets no emails. In fact I get dozens of emails every day. I do not store my emails in my all mail folder. I never have. Since I've signed up for my GMail account in 2005, I only keep emails when there is a tracking number involved or a coupon that I need to print out later.

I may be OCD when it comes to my email. I feel stressed whenever there are emails sitting in my All Mail. It represents incompletion and I tend to knock out any mail quick enough by either storing them elsewhere or just simply deleting them. I don't know how someone can live knowing they have four or five years worth of emails sitting on their person.

I don't need tabs. People just need to learn to manage their emails better. Since that day is never going to happen, I'll just continue to keep my email pristine thank you very much. As long as I can manage them with the goal of removing them from my life upon completion, I'll remain a very happy user. This is a good move by Google, it's just not applicable to me and hopefully it never will be.

Crazy Happens

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:53:00 +0000

You would think I've have more to write about, especially writing almost every day in February. Here it is almost May and I wrote one picture post in March between then and now. With springtime though, comes the usual business.

Yard work usually picks back up. Now I have to re add leaf clean up, stick pick up, and lawn mowing back into my weekly routines. Then the world decides it wants to go crazy.

This week we've seen an attack on innocent locals at the Boston Marathon, ricin attacks to national leaders from an Elvis impersonator (allegedly), a very large fertilizer plant explosion, and now the manhunt for one of those marathon bombers after the other was killed.

Events of this week will be discussed for a very long time. Conspiracy theorists are already brewing up ideas on how these events were caused by everything from government agents to aliens. You and I will continue on with our lives.

We cannot let reminders of evil in the world consume our world view. If there is just one take away when things get tragic it's that the good still far outnumber the bad. For every wrong minded person in the world with hateful rhetoric, a gun, or a bomb, there are thousands of us armed with kindness, respect, and goodwill to everyone.

The ball's in our court.

A Thought About My Morning Commute

noreply@blogger.com (The Lewis Show) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:30:00 +0000

(language warning)

Yeah, I'm that guy that won't let this guy/gal over too.