EJ's Place

Cyborg Name Decoder

EJ — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:07:56 +0000

“E.L.I.Z.A.B.E.T.H. — Electronic Lifeform Intended for Zealous Assassination, Basic Exploration and Thorough Harm”

Wow, this thing is dead on!

Be Water Wise

EJ — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:46:00 +0000

I met a woman at the SoCal SharePoint User Group meeting the other night who works for The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and she kind of scared me.

Well, she wasn’t scary… it was her information that was scary. She gave me some information on how SoCal obtains its water from other states and how we are currently unable to pull from those sources for various reasons. Many of us in Southern California are being put under water rationing. She pointed me to this website for tips on how to conserve water…

http://www.bewaterwise.com

http://www.bewaterwise.com/tips01.html

It’s so easy for each of us to do the little things that end up making a big difference.

Go Green Tips

EJ — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:33:00 +0000

I was reading some tips on going green and found that I already do a few of these — Stop idling, turn off your computer, wash your clothes in cold water, and pay bills online — and want to share a few more that I found very easy to adopt. These may seem pretty common sense…

Turn off the faucet while brushing teeth. I thought it was pretty common to not run the water while brushing your teeth, but I have witnessed the running-water-while-teeth-brushing enough times that I thought it should make the list.

Take one less paper towel from the public bathroom paper towel dispenser than you usually do (unless you already only take one). Once you get used to taking one less, it’s easy to take two less. Two less? You mean some people actually take more than two? Unfortunately, yes. Many of us have witnessed someone yanking out 5 or 6 in super speedy fashion without blinking an eye.

Turn off the power strips. Do you have electronic devices such as computer monitors, laptops, various power adapters, and other random power-sucking objects plugged into a power strip? Try turning the power strip off when you leave for the day and see how much your electricity bill drops. The little things add up.

A Few of My Favorite Things

EJ — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:43:00 +0000

I think the world would be a far worse place without…

Abba-Zaba! Abba. Zaba. Because it’s fun to have to check to make sure your fillings are still in tact. Are Abba-Zabas going extinct? It’s so difficult to find them these days! When we can’t count on every single 7-11 in Los Angeles to carry them, what can we count on?

I think the Squeezebox is one of the best inventions of all time. Streaming my Pandora.com stations through my surround sound system. It does tons of other equally cool things, but I’m so thrilled with the basics that I’ve yet to explore the rest of the functionality.

If I had to work without OneNote, I would descend into madness.

And not last, nor least…

TETRIS!

Circles

EJ — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:15:00 +0000

I think I’ve posted this before, elsewhere, or anywhere, or everywhere. I like to read it from time to time…

“The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, to lose our sempiternal memory, and to do something without knowing how or why; in short, to draw a new circle. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful: it is by abandonment.”

This is just a snippet of Essay 10. CIRCLES by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Solar the Sign

EJ — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Last night I attended an EcoTuesday event (more to come on that later) and learned about an exciting community project to solar panel the Hollywood Sign.

See Mike bloblive-ing his idea here

And keep up to date on all the happenings related to the project here

Weekend full of exercise and fun in the sun

EJ — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Yesterday we rode our bikes from Marina del Rey all the way to South Redondo Beach. We rode around and had fun with some great friends, then rode our bikes back to Marina del Rey, finally arriving home at 1:30am. It was an insanely long ride, but so much fun! We all stopped in Manhattan Beach, parked our bikes in the sand, and walked down toward the water to have some wine at midnight. Our friends then lent us their iPod and speakers to enjoy some Grateful Dead on the long ride home. It was a beautiful evening.

Today I had an itch to go for a long run. The day was beautiful so I just kept going and going. I think it was my longest run since last year’s Edinburgh marathon. Here’s today’s route…

06/21/2009 Route MDR
Find more Runs in Marina Del Rey, California

I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful area. This afternoon we went to C and R’s housewarming party and spent some time with truly amazing friends. What a fantastic way to end the weekend.

Green Business Cards

EJ — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:16:00 +0000

8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards – http://mashable.com/2009/06/11/virtual-business-card/

And check out this cool Twitter app…

HOW TO: Exchange Business Cards With Twitter @Replies – http://mashable.com/2009/05/19/twtbizcard/

There’s a whole big blobby world out there!

EJ — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:11:00 +0000

I attended an event on Monday evening without really knowing what to expect. It’s called a Bloblive event.

http://www.bloblive.com – Here’s a blurb from their About Us page:

“Bloblive is an urban event for big thinkers, small business owners, entrepreneurs — and dreamers. Each event features idea sharing, audience feedback, a live video feed, twittering and more. Bloblive is the city’s only regular idea meet-up, and whether your idea is half-baked or fully cooked, we’d love to hear about it!”

The event completely opened my mind in so many ways. Each entrepreneur got up on stage and shared their idea, dilemma, or challenge within about 90 seconds, and then the audience took turns at the mic to give their feedback, suggestions, and ideas for the next few minutes.

With the exception of one audience member that evening, the audience had a positive vibe, and ideas were building off of one another pretty rapidly. People reserved their criticisms during the feedback process in the interest of maintaining more of a teamwork / brainstorming session. The cheeseball in me was elated! Strangers can actually come together in positive spirits and share ideas, hopes, and dreams, and be totally passionate about it. The Bloblive team does a wonderful job at creating an environment where people can check their fears and self-reservations at the door.

Also check out http://www.ideablob.com – The concept of sharing entrepreneurial ideas grew from ideablob.com, and Bloblive is a way to take it out into the community and share these ideas semi-intimate settings.

I plan to attend as many Bloblive events as possible. I’m not really an entrepreneur with my own world-changing ideas, so I will not be standing on stage. However, I found the event to be a fantastic way to network with people in and around the community. You never know who you’re going to meet. And more importantly, the event was a great escape from my daily routine and the usual way in which I interact with others, either at work or in my personal life. I loved the feeling of being a part of something larger.

ITgreening

EJ — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

ITgreening.com. Check it! Here’s a little excerpt from their site…

Seven effective steps for a greener infrastructure

Identify a Green IT manager in your enterprise
Define your metrics and use a Green IT dashboard to to identify key points for improvement
Audit your IT systems environment
Virtualise your infrastructure
Implement environmentally responsible purchasing policies
Raise end-user awareness
Set Green targets, and commit to achieving them

http://itgreening.wordpress.com