We went to Islands Fine Burgers & Drinks. It was a cool cloudy day when we talked about:
- Getting kids involved in a team sport, like soccer. I’m worried about the time commitment, but we generally agreed it’s essential for a child’s development.
- Creating a team web page. Facebook Page is more popular now. However, not everyone is on Facebook – especially the older folks.
- College investment. Is it worth it to have higher education degree and entry level job is less than $60k? It may just pay off in the long run.
- More IT jobs are available. We’re not sure why this is happening, but recruiters are having a hard time finding qualified people in IT.
- Finding jobs in China. With the bad economy in USA, more people are moving to China. Standard of living is rising in China.
- Costco’s American Express has a cash-back limit on gas. Apparently, the limit is $3000 per year – then it switches to 1% instead of 3%.
I’m in a retrospecting mood today. I want to reflect on the disciplines that I wanted to keep. One of them is this blog. I have been blogging since 20061. I’ve been struggling to rationalize and justify the reason to go on with it.
Then it hits me.
I’ve been slowly raising the standards of my writing. It’s no longer about writing instantly whatever is on my mind.2 It’s now about collecting my thoughts and ideas on any single topic, and spruced them up with links that I’ve researched along the way. Over the years, I’ve came to realize blogging suddenly took a lot of effort!
Then there’s the problem of feedback. I have very few followers of this blog (thanks, Steve! 
). It’s hard to gauge how my efforts are being evaluated. So the gratification level of blogging went down in the past few years.
I’ve considered many times to just abandon this blog and just go do micro blogging on Tumblr. People do (myself included) have a very short attention span. They’ll only respond to pictures or videos. They’ll sometimes respond to sensational/weird headlines, but even then it’s not a sure thing.
Perhaps this Project Triangle says it all:
“Pick Any Two: Fast, Good, or Cheap.”
I can do it fast and good, but I’ll need to pay other people to help me write.
I can do it fast and cheap, but I doubt it’ll be good – at least not all the time.
I can do it good and cheap, but it’s definitely going to take time. This is pretty much the mode I’m in right now. I’m the only writer and I try my best to make it good.
So, with the world, nowadays, going at lightning speed, hungry for quality stuff, and want everything free, what can this part-time blogger do?
Photo Credit: Christian
- But the whole blogging mania started around 2001 [↩]
- I’ve got the social networks like Facebook and Twitter for that. [↩]
Tags: discipline, habit, writing
I’ve been a Netflix customer since 1997, during the rise of DVD, becoming the de facto media replacement of VHS. I thought the idea of mailing the DVD direct to my door was brilliant. Those red envelopes are iconic! As an early adopter, I was even awarded with free T-Shirts. Netflix was one reason why I stopped going to Blockbuster. They were also the reason why I dropped my satellite dish subscription. Now, they’re fully committed to streaming videos, so naturally I’m on-board, as well. They’re always innovative with their technology and business model.
The latest announcement by Netflix to raise prices doesn’t surprise me. It sucks that we, the consumers, have to foot the bill because it costs a great deal of money to acquire content from the movie/television studios. The motion picture business is a cutthroat and greedy market.
At the end of the day, Netflix needs to make more profit to keep the investors1 happy. Let’s hope Netflix doesn’t lose too many customers that may force them to cut costs – mainly in content.
Despite of this, I’ll continue to use Netflix. I’m just a fan and loyal customer. Now, I have to determine if I need to rent DVDs from them. Maybe the $1 Redbox rental once or twice a month will be sufficient. If not, then I’ll just bite the bullet and contribute more to Netflix’ coffers.
Photo Credit: Kill Taupe
- By the way, I’m not a Netflix shareholder. [↩]
Here in North America, I’m blessed with the availability of clean water. It’s still relatively safe to drink water from the tap (in most cities) and if I’m paranoid enough, I can go out and buy a bottled water.
The rest of the world, unfortunately, have no access to clean water. It actually kills more than 2.2 million people per year, and most of them are children! This is a staggering number.
Fortunately, it can be solved by technology, building basic infrastructure to provide better sanitation, and plenty of compassion. We all can donate to non-profit organizations to provide clean water to places that needed it the most.
Here’s a wonderful ad by Solidarités International and BDDP Unlimited, spotlighting the need for clean water all over the world:
Tags: charity, compassion, help, water
Building IT
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