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Friday, July 4th, 2008
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12:55 am - Data Mine Shaft - Johnny Get Your Gun
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This week's post on The Data Mine Shaft is about a book I mentioned on Soundwave night (if you were there). It's a book about war with some extremely compelling data. Due to the fact I don't normally write about war and that it's a pretty serious topic, tonight's post is a little different than usual. It has fewer jokes and a content disclaimer. However, I don't think it's any less compelling than any other post I've written, just a bit more weighty. There's a few more anecdotes about my life in there too.
I'm glad I could get back on track after last week, where I had to do an exhausting technical exercise instead of posting. Here's to hoping things will be smooth for a bit!
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| Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
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11:44 pm - Life is Good
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Things are speeding up for me, at work and at home. I'm starting to taste the first fruits of my labor in the workforce, and I'm having the first inklings of success. I'm taking things one day at time for the moment. And I'm trying to just enjoy what I have.
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| Friday, June 20th, 2008
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12:34 am - Data Mine Shaft - Taller, Thinner, Stronger
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After a one week hiatus, I'm back with part two of my two part Data Mine Shaft series on personal appearance. (Part one is here.) I had a lot of ideas for this post, and in the end I felt pretty good about. I think the writing is as good as ever, but readership is in the toilet because I haven't been promoting the site. Thankfully I have a lot of ideas on what to do about that, so I should be seeing a lot more traffic soon.
This post draws on my extreme experiences of dieting with wrestling and other such things. I quickly gloss over some very extreme experiences I've had in the past. Good times!
If you comment now and I edit your post (for my response), you should get emailed now. That's courtesy of my good buddy Dan, who hacked the feature in via PHP. When I make a few of the other changes I'm planning on, the site should be mostly good to go for awhile.
Go check it out! (And I hope part two doesn't disappoint, Lindsey.)
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| Thursday, June 12th, 2008
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7:27 pm - Data Mine Shaft - Scientific Guinea Pig Edition
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Well, today I got a couple of tubes shoved up my nose as part of my ongoing medical saga, one of which is still there until tomorrow morning. As you might expect, this makes it kind of hard to concentrate on writing. Not that I didn't try. But the tube is kind of a constant distraction, which is fine for watching movies and stuff but not for intensive creative pursuits like writing. Sorry about the delays, I'll try to finish this post on the weekend. I already know what I want to say, I just need to finish these dang tests first. Worst case scenario, I finish posting next week but I hope I can get something out earlier. See you soon!
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| Sunday, June 8th, 2008
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12:57 am - What's Happening
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As usual when I try to update y'all on my life, too much has happened since the last update to talk about. So I'll talk about what I can.
Greg, our childhood friend and Soundwave homey, was in town recently (for the first time in years). Hanging out with him was awesome. We ate at some cool places, ate some terrible Harry Potter jellybeans, and even played a little Rock Band and Wario Ware. Good times were had by all. Too bad you're not local, Greg, but it was still good to chill.
My younger sister (who is still much older than me) was also down this week. We had ate together a bunch and talked. It was great to see her too. Her and my mom seemed really appreciative that I was around. And Ed and I gave her a fabulous gift from China that really blew her away. I've rediscovered the value of family in the past couple of years. And the process of doing so has been incredibly rewarding. Maybe I'm growing up, or maybe I finally opened my eyes to the great potential available inside my own family circle. Couldn't tell you. It's been great, though.
Been talking to a lot of people about real fundamental life issues too. Ed, Peter, Dan, Del, Dan, you name it. A lot of us seem to be at a cross-roads, not least because a lot of us are creeping up on 30. This is less of a big deal to me, because I already know what I want to do with my life (writing and analyst work) and I had a lot of formative experiences and world travel under my belt. So I don't feel the need to find myself or have some great adventure. And I know happiness steadily increases throughout your life until you're at least 70, so I have nothing but even better experiences to look forward to.
Which reminds me, my quest to have a more positive attitude has really worked out. No matter how bad things get, I am relatively unstressed and happy. Maybe it's the happiest time of my life. I don't know. I don't spend too much time worrying about how happy I am. I spend a lot more figuring out how to have fun and make something of myself and the rest takes care of itself. I can tell you that my circumstances haven't changed that much, so me being happier probably has more to do with my attitude than anything.
I'll tell you one thing, I'm much less self-critical than I used to be. Things that would come up again and again and make me cringe hardly register on my radar now. I can say something stupid and just let it roll right off my back. It took a lot of effort to get to this point, but it's been worth it.
Gaming has been great, too. Rock Band is an amazing game, and so is Shadow Hearts: Covenant. I'm getting better at Rock Band by the day (and to think I was worried about my guitar playing) and Shadow Hearts has really been a stellar RPG. I squeeze in rounds of Planet Puzzle League, Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball 2, and Grand Theft Auto 4 when I can. Plus, they recently reissued Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne for the PS2, and I ordered that shit off Amazon for $40. No shipping (2 day), no tax. How can you beat that?
The writing on the blog has been coming along. I've written at least 40 posts so far, and I think I'm really getting the hang of blogging. It's a different medium than other forms of writing, but it's something you get used to like anything else. It's fun and I keep learning a ton. Plus, I come across some pretty crazy characters in my pursuit of knowledge. Can't complain.
Lots of good trips are coming up. I'm going to see my sister in Atlanta soon. I also plan to go out to Texas for our usual gaming thing. The chalet is looming in the background around New Year's (which recently had a huge price drop, so yay), Kris is talking about visiting Baton Rouge again, and I'd like to make up the Chicago trip that didn't work out last time, to see Ming, Matt, Kim, and Eric. I'll be busy, that's for sure.
Life is good. And I'm thankful for it, and that's there's someone to read this when I write it. Things aren't perfect, but then again they never are. I read about an entrepreneur who said if you never experience setbacks, you won't be able to recognize and seize opportunities when they come around. So in a sense, I can even be positive about the bad times. Hopefully you can be too.
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| Friday, June 6th, 2008
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1:11 am - Data Mine Shaft - The Bold and the Beautiful
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Tonight's Data Mine Shaft post is on attractiveness and the book "Looks" that I finished reading today. This is the first of another two part post, and the second post in my new writing style. I'm still feeling out how to write this way, but I'm certainly liking the new direction. The writing comes a lot easier, and I think it reads easier. I don't think about it much though, I just kind of go with it.
Ed liked this post a lot, and so do I. The content should be interesting to most too. Since I've been lax on the blog lately, readership has been up and down. I have a good idea on how to promote it, though. And next week's post (part two) should be my best post yet. I plan to incorporate some great stories and anecdotes along with some top notch content. Enjoy the post and see you next week!
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| Thursday, May 29th, 2008
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11:42 pm - Data Mine Shaft - Big Jet Liner
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This week's post is back to basics on the Data Mine Shaft. It's a very straightforward post about airlines and delays. This was one of the roughly 50% of posts I improvise. Thankfully the BTS is an excellent data source.
Since I came back from China I've been writing differently. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with the new style, but I'll just go wherever it takes me. Hopefully it's a bit more open-ended and mature than before. Honestly, though, I'm not sure what it'll be, if anything. I do know it makes writing easier and less dry. Anyway, enjoy!
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| Sunday, May 25th, 2008
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5:01 pm - Data Mine Shaft - Delayed by Jetlag Editon
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At long last, here is part two of my MBTI Step II post on my blog. I tried to write this post three times, resulting in me missing my self-imposed deadline for the first time. Jetlag has been a real bastard lately. I fell asleep twice trying to write this. Nevertheless, I finally wrote it today and for all that I think everything turned out OK. (Even though I took a month between posts!) I feel pretty good about the content, so feel free to go check it out!
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| Thursday, May 1st, 2008
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6:51 pm - Data Mine Shaft - On Vacation
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Hey y'all, I didn't have time to write my post inbetween preparing for our China trip and work being nuts. So, I'll be in China from May 2nd to May 17th, and I won't be able to post again until May 22nd. Sorry for the delay. See you all when I get back!
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| Saturday, April 26th, 2008
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1:56 pm - Rock Band Robots
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| Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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11:24 pm - Data Mine Shaft - Step by Step
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I began yet another two part post on my blog this week. This time it's about the MBTI personality theory Step II test, which is deeper, more involved, and more expensive than the Step I test. If you like personality theory, you should get a kick out of it.
Historically, I get a lot of interest and some of the best comments on my previous MBTI post, so I figured this would make for an excellent followup. The Step II test was something I'd been wanting to take for awhile anyway, and this was as good an excuse as any. It was easy to write (especially since it's a shorter post) and I think it came off well. Hope you like it!
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| Friday, April 18th, 2008
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1:22 am - Data Mine Shaft - Even More Many Eyes
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This week completes my two part series on the data sharing site Many Eyes. This post was much easier to write than part one, and it took a lot less time. And I think it's just as good, if not better than part one. I uploaded two pretty cool datasets and I think all the specifics are easy to relate to. Hope you like it!
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| Monday, April 14th, 2008
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11:06 pm - Blog Spam
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There's this blog spam floating around now where people leave these perfectly worded compliments, and then they use the URL fields in the comments to plug their spam sites. A lot people get hoodwinked because they don't use stuff like Akismet (my blog spam tool of choice, comes default on WordPress installations) and they don't double check the commenters. Watching these people get all excited over these fake compliments breaks my heart. Sometimes it's the only comment they've ever gotten, or one of a few. I've seen a lot of screwed up blog spam over the past few months, but this takes the cake. Man, fuck YOU blog spammers.
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| Friday, April 11th, 2008
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2:44 am - Data Mine Shaft - All Eyez on Me
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This week's (belated) post is about Many Eyes, another data-sharing website. The site was so big I had to split my post about it into two parts (and really I could've done three or four, in retrospect). The site has so much going on that this post, despite only being the first part, is perhaps my longest post to date.
Due to scheduling conflicts, this post had to come out much later than usual, and it required Herculean amounts of editing. Even then, Ed and I both rushed the process, and I still got it out this late. Thanks Ed, I really appreciate your efforts this week (even more than most). I will try and avoid such late night shenanigans in the future. (Sorry Ed.) Anyway, for all that I think it's still a good post, and with a tremendous amount of content. I basically did a site feature and a huge lesson on charting in the same post, so you should have plenty to chew on this week.
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| Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
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12:23 am - Hangover Info
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Here's a fascinating HowStuffWorks article I just read on hangovers (courtesy of a random SA goon). I'm probably going to read it at least 1-2 more times just to try and absorb everything.
Also I'm certainly trying out the regimen they prescribe. I ordered a multi-vitamin and some of that hangover cure stuff so I'm good to go. In a few days I should be able to report back! (In fact I may make a blog post about this.)
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| Friday, April 4th, 2008
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1:07 am - Data Mine Shaft - Turn, Turn, Turn
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This week on my site I wrote about turn signal usage. Obviously there's not a lot of data on the topic, so I had to scrounge up some personally. It took me months to get all the data I needed, so this post has been in the hopper for some time.
Despite that, when it came time to actually write the post, I had trouble getting motivated. I've found out, in writing both a book and a blog, the hardest part is getting started each time. I know that might sound like a cliche, but it's true. And some weeks, like this one, I really have to push myself to get going. After that, it's usually smooth sailing. The funny part is I usually know what's going on, but I still have to talk myself into posting. It's not an entirely rational process.
Ed and I both liked this post, for all of that. I spent more time than usual editing this post because it was in a more unusual, emotional, and informal style. Hopefully me and Ed cleaned up any of the hiccups that were in there. I like the data too.
You may remember that I was originally going to write about Many Eyes, the data sharing site, but that's such an involved site I'll need to do a two part post probably starting next week, so keep an eye out for that. Anyway, go check it out!
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| Friday, March 28th, 2008
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12:39 am - Data Mine Shaft - Share and Share Alike
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Another week, another post to the Data Mine Shaft. This week's post is about Swivel, a data-sharing and collaboration site. It's been awhile since I'd been there, so there was a lot of changes and cool stuff they added. On the whole, this was an easy to write, high-quality post. The only snafu was actually putting up some data to Swivel. Getting data up there in the appropriate format (I am anal about this stuff) was a bit of a challenge, but it was fun anyway. Next week should wrap up this three part series with a post on IBM's Many Eyes site. Hopefully you all enjoy! (Especially you, Quinton.)
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| Friday, March 21st, 2008
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12:34 am - Data Mine Shaft - Feeling Trendy
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This week on my blog I wrote about the data sharing site Gapminder and the data visualization software used there, Trendalyzer. Ironically, I was worried this post wouldn't be long enough, and it ended up being one of my longer posts. All in all, it didn't take nearly as much to write a post this week, and I'm getting to bed much earlier.
This choice of topic (and the other two in my three post series) were inspired by my previous post and by Quinton's interest in the subject. Guess you and me will get to learn about data sharing sites together, man. :) I'm writing about Swivel next week (probably), then Many Eyes. Good times. Enjoy!
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| Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
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11:33 pm - Soundwave Playlist Post
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| Friday, March 14th, 2008
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1:44 am - Data Mine Shaft - I Dub Thee
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This week's installment of the Data Mine Shaft was crazy. Due to various factors (Daylight Savings, lots of work, no other free time), I was behind on this post when today hit. Despite the fact I was planning a data-rich post, I sat down today to write with no more than a proof of concept in how to get the data I needed.
7-8 hours later, I had a finished post. I guess I focused as much as I could and slapped the data together light speed. Then I quickly wrote up what I needed, added the charts and the datasets, revised it, and sent it off to Ed. A post like this would normally have taken me two to three times as long as it did today. I was honestly worried that, for the first time, I would falter in making a post due to my own failings. It's a testament to my posting infrastructure and how much better/more efficient I've gotten at writing that I got this post out the door tonight. Not only that, but it's one of the most data and visual aid rich posts I've made. I didn't take any shortcuts or cut any corners. I must say, I'm especially proud of this post, and I really like the content too. Other than a weak ending (which Ed helped me rewrite), I feel like things turned out really well.
Anyway, the post is about the proportion of U.S. names from the Bible in the last 120 years. Getting the data together was a challenge unto itself. I thought my findings were interesting enough, though. And, as I mention, I finally found a way to incorporate a religious angle into the blog. Religion is a major component of the social science angle my blog has, but until now I've largely had to ignore it because it's a controversial topic that's hard to write about. I even got to incorporate some hardcore bits of the Bible I recalled from memory (which I fact checked, of course). Hope you like it!
(Thanks again, Ed, for working so late with me. I know it took longer to get you this post than usual.)
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