Less than one minute ago, I made a decision. It wasn’t a big decision, no, it was a very small one. I decided to blog. No, I didn’t decide to blog more often, despite my sparse postings for the last few months. I decided that I would write a single post immediately. What makes this decision significant is the motivation behind it – or the lack of motivation. I had no topic in mind to write on, no question, I just decided to blog.

OK, it’s not actually that significant, but pretending it was helped me get the ball rolling. I got a whole paragraph out of that. So now, I’m in my second paragraph of an insignificant post. At this point I’m wondering how I can salvage significance. Maybe I should turn this into a confession of my lack of motivation when it comes to blogging lately – but nah, that seems like the cheap way out. I feel like there is some super creative and maybe even witty solution that will bring me the satisfaction of a job well done and that will bring you, who have somehow wondered into my written world, the satisfaction of a read worth the past 5 minutes of your life.

Maybe I should take this opportunity to apologize. I’m sorry I wasted your time. Phew! Now if, despite my efforts, you decide you didn’t like this post when you get to the end, you’ll think “well he did say he was wasting my time and he did apologize.” But, if you somehow arrive at the conclusion that this collection of words added value to your life, you’ll think even higher of me because of my self-debasement and modesty.

Ahh, I’ve gone and messed things up. How can I expect you to objectively arrive at either conclusion now? I just walked you down a path towards a fork in the road and arrogantly assured you “you’ll go that way or the other way.” Now, to spite me, most people would abandon the path and run through the woods, forging their own way, because nowadays we are so obsessed with “straying off the beaten path” that we will do it even if everyone else is doing it.

Well, now that I have covered every possible outcome and made sure that I’ll be right no matter what happens, I think it’s time to end this thing.

Edit: So I wrote the entry that’s about to be posted after this, but apparently I sent the wrong file to blogger. I’m going to leave this up for memory’s sake.

Bluetooth PhoneManager
version 4.30 071012
Diagnostic file

———

Check if “HP IPAQ 110″ is allowed
HP IPAQ RX4 NOT FOUND
HP IPAQ HX2490 NOT FOUND
HP IPAQ HX4700 NOT FOUND
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY NOT FOUND
HP IPAQ HX2790 NOT FOUND
HP IPAQ 110 found
Ok!

You know how when somebody does something that bothers you, you’re supposed to deal with it right away instead of letting it fester? You didn’t know? Well now you know, and the knowledge will help your relationships a whole lot. Back to my point – I knew I shouldn’t let things fester, but I’ve been letting this one thing fester. It’s been bothering me for several years I think, but I have never ever said a thing about it – not to an offender, not to a sympathizer – I’ve bottled it all up. It’s way past time that I let it out, so today is the day:

URLs do not use backslashes!!!

Phew! That felt good. Most people do not seem to know the difference between a slash and a backslash – sometimes I wonder if people even know that slashes exist. Before the worldwide web, this wasn’t much of an issue, but now that people are regularly giving out website addresses, it’s a big deal. Especially now that MySpace is the big thing.

“Oh yeah, just check me out on MySpace. Myspace dot com backslash badfriggingrammar.”

Why does it bother me so much? Several reasons:

1. Colloquial use of improper English is only acceptable when it makes a word easier. For example, “Ain’t” takes less time to say than “is not” or even “isn’t.” “Backslash” however, doubles the syllables of “slash.” Why make a simple word more complex? Better question, why make an already unwieldy URL even more difficult to say than it has to be?
2. It’s one thing to accidentally substitute a similar word for the correct word, but “backslash” is the polar opposite of “slash.” How would you feel if people considered you and your arch-nemesis suitable substitutions for each other? It’s just not right. Spelling a URL with a backslash is like baking a cake with salt.
3. And I guess if you don’t know how a cake is supposed to taste, salt could be fine, but I know it should be sugar. If only I could be ignorant of what a slash – is like so many other people seem to be, I’d be fine . Unfortunately, that bliss is not mine.

It’s horrible – at first I thought it was just a few non-tech-savvy people misusing “backslash,” but it’s not. I cannot recall ever hearing anyone spell a URL with a slash. Every time I hear “backslash,” I cringe on the inside, but on the outside, I’m all smiles. I know it was wrong of me to hide my feelings instead of confronting the problem. I’m trying to make up for it by telling everyone that I can reach – it’s a slash!

You may hav noticed that I added digg buttons to the blog. If you read a post and like it, please digg it.

For those that don’t know what Digg is, it’s a social bookmarking site. Basically, as more people “digg” a story, it gets more promotion.

Remember when you used to ask what a word meant and you were told to look it up? Do you still do that. Thanks to technology today, we can go way beyond the dictionary definition and little encyclopedia article. If you’re curious about the meaning or history of something or how it works, look it up. Wikipedia is one of my favorite websites. You can find answers to your questions and educate yourself at the same time!

I’m at work and I am tired. I am having daydreams of sleep. Suddenly I feel like blogging. I’m not sure why, I have nothing in particular to say at the moment. I’m wearing headphones. I just skipped through my music to see if I could find a song that would inspire a blog topic….or be one. I settled on “The Girl from Ipanema.”

I like music that makes me feel and/or see things. I’ve always loved “Girl From Ipanema” because it is a very vivid song to me and it creates such a strange combination of feelings. Imagine seeing the most perfectly beautiful person you have ever seen in the most perfectly beautiful setting possible. Simultaneously, try to recall the most lonely you’ve ever felt. It’s a sad feeling, but not completely, almost as if merely being in the presence of that beauty could bring satisfaction. If I was a painter, I would definitely have several paintings based on this song.

Where the hell is Ipanema? It’s moments like these that make me love wikipedia.

Ok, I looked it up. From the wikipedia entry, it seems that Ipanema is not that remarkable. It is a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Ipanema” translates to “bad water,” but the beaches are actually supposed to be pretty nice. It doesn’t sound like a bad place, but aside from the song, the only thing that seems to set it apart from similar parts of Brazil is that it is the most expensive neighborhood in Rio. Well, it’s nice to know.

• For the same reason that wealth is more important to people who are accustomed to a certain lifestyle, reading is only fundamental to readers.
• Recently, I’ve been going through a writing slump, the words wouldn’t come. Today I think a leaf unlocked the door for the words to flow.
• A strong woman is kind of like a flower with thorns – you would think that the beauty and delicacy would be the most attractive thing, but once you get close, there is something addictive/therapeutic about running your fingers over the sharp points. Not hard enough to hurt, just enough to know that they are there.

Hmmm…what to write, what to write. I guess I’m in a blogging mood right now, but no subject matter comes to mind. I just finished writing an entry for my other blog, but I still feel like writing. Hmmm..what’s been on my mind lately…

Last night I went to a Red Bull Music Academy info session and got to ask Cool DJ Red Alert some questions. It was interesting. I grew up listening to him on new York’s Kiss FM. It was nice to hear that someone who has made it in the industry is bothered by the homogenity of current Hip-Hop. His advice for people trying to come up in the business was to focus on marketing and selof promotion and mastering your craft. He said that back when he started, there were only a few people doing what he was doing, so it was much easier to stand out. Nowadays there are tons of people trying to do the same thing. If you want to stand out, you have to work to be the best at what you do and to make sure you get noticed.

Ummm, yeah. I’m gonna let this end here.