The Column

Motto: Shooter McGavin was in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

I haven't written much lately cause I've been busy.

I rewatched Thor: Ragnarok. I think it needs bumped up even higher in my MCU ranking. Previously it was at the top of my "Upper" tier - it's been reranked to middle of the "Elite" tier, passing Spiderman: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy. Thor's response to all this:

Next post will certainly be a retrospective of the Life Tracker - as my 5 Year Anniversary of tracking happens in two weeks. I have a preview of that post right here:

The post after that will be me screaming for an entire post about how good Avengers: Infinity War was. I have a preview of that post right here:

A post in the not too distant future will be me like this:

A post after that one will be more like this:

I guess what I'm saying in this post is that most of what I have to say I'm not ready to say yet.

Top 5: Things That Make Me Hip
5. I bought…

Motto: The Adventure Begins...

Here's some notes-to-self from my Google Keep that I originally wrote with the intention of exploring at a greater length on here, but given that I write about this sort of crap all the time, I'm just going to write them verbatim from my notes:

Always explore. Always try new things.

Happiness is not that hard.
Happiness follows healthiness. You feel healthy when you're exercising regularly, brushing your teeth, cooking nutritious meals and eating them, sleeping enough, and working on creating projects that hone talents and stimulate the brain.
Happiness also follows a sense of control. You don't feel in control when you're giving into your "immediate gratification" impulses. 

Splitting your attention between things is a fleeting contentment that ultimately givesway to a sense of existential dread. It's always better to be fully into doing one thing than to be halfway doing two things.

--- Okay that's done. Next up.

I just f…

Motto: Dirigibles and Didgeridoos have Nothing in Common Other than They are both Plural Nouns and Long, Funny "D" Words
Bitcoin is weird. I assume anyone who's reading this is at least aware of Bitcoin as a thing, so I'm not going to explain what it is. I have no Bitcoin. I never bought in. The whole concept is... it's just insane to me. It's like a stock for a company that never existed, never made anything, that can pay no dividends. I mean, stocks as a whole barely make sense to me - but this is a whole new level of WHAT? 
From my admittedly limited understanding, you "mine" Bitcoin by telling your computer to do some crazy math. Your computer does that math and spits out a new Bitcoin. As time goes on the math gets harder to accomplish and thus Bitcoin become harder to produce. 
Meanwhile, everyone who has any Bitcoin at all has their name on this ledger that says "Jack has 2 Bitcoin, Jill has 3". If Jack wants to give Jill Bitcoin to …

Motto: Don't say cheese, just smile.Life is Good.
This is the kind of stuff I think about.
What is "smart"? What makes somebody smart? Is it just... knowing a lot of things? Is somebody smart just because they do really well in bar trivia? Are you smart because you've read so many books? Is she smart because she's so well-traveled? Is he smart because he's experienced a lot of things?
I don't think "smart" is definable in a global scope. It's sort of like "healthy". It doesn't mean anything, really. Healthy is what you define it to be. If you die of a heart attack at 35, but that was your plan all along - does that make you "unhealthy"? Planning to die at 35 certainly makes you not smart... so what does? Maybe "smartness" is something you just know when you see it, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. 
I'm not "smart" because I pulled that sweet Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart reference. …

Motto: 7719836421125
Don't bother trying to decipher the motto. It's from Rick and Morty. Someone on the internet may stumble across the post trying to figure out if those numbers mean anything. If they do mean something, I don't know. I just wanted to waste a few seconds of this hypothetical person's time.
And I guess waste your time reading it. I'm a jerk.
I might be repeating myself with this next bit, but I'm not finding first time I wrote about it, if it exists... and let's be honest I repeat myself on here every time I write.
It's sort of a bummer that I have no real terrible habits.
I don't smoke. I don't drink to excess. I don't do drugs. Meanwhile... I do exercise. I do use my brain.
I've heard so many stories about people who "finally quit smoking, quit drinking, and started exercising - and it feels fantastic". Basically I live that life every day. We are playing with different baselines & I feel like it's somet…

Motto: Adept at being Inept

This isn't going to be fun to read, but It was fun to write. 

I'm not writing about any of the things that have happened lately that would be considered "interesting". You can stop here. No really, it's okay. I'll even do the picture to go out on!


Not bad Google.

You should stop.

Alright, your loss.

2018 has coincided with my best New Year's Resolution yet: No Zero Days.

Meaning - I will work, at least a little bit, every single day, toward one of the following:
Home improvement (not just maintenance)Getting a Master's and/or PE and/or PMP certificationCreating an Android AppPhysical fitnessThe other thing+whatever else I deem appropriate for my long-term developmentOver the holiday, I had a new experience - I failed to escape an escape room. I'm shooting 7 for 8 now. I got to see a new take on the escape room concept. I got to see what a bad room is like. A BAD room...

1. Has too many red herrings - especially if the right pat…