On the subject of parking…

This is kind of a silly post, but I wanted to write it nonetheless.

What you see in the picture above makes absolutely to sense to me. I see this about every morning and every evening, and I just have to wonder why?

Situation #1: I pull into my spot normally. It only takes a second or two. Pulling out after that only takes maybe five or ten seconds.

Situation #2: I parked backwards in my spot, and it only takes a second to pull out. Getting into my spot, however, takes me about thirty seconds or so to back in (or at least, that’s what I’ve seen it takes my neighbor).

Situation #2 obviously takes more time. The only reason I can fathom for backing in is so you can get out fast. Only… You can only get out about four seconds faster than I can backing out. That time is quickly lost just pulling out of the parking lot.

So why on earth do people back into their spots?!

I will probably die never knowing the reason…

To switch, or not to switch?

Well, I’m facing a bit of a conundrum. I’ve been playing around with WordPress, which is a pretty sweet blogging platform, and I can’t decide if I should make the switch or not. 
Pros:

• better interface for blogging, comes integrated with comments, site stats, etc.
• my wife just switched, so both of us being on the same platform would allow us to guest post on each others blog.
• better mobile blogging support (the apps are way better)
• way better themes (more professional, better design, etc.)
• more flexible design layout options (I can better specify what’s in the right column, rather than editing the raw html).

Cons:

• WordPress charges $12/year to point my domain name at it. That would mean either coughing up more money (which I don’t think I want to do) or… Giving up my custom domain (no more brandonmoon.com)!
• WordPress also charges you for custom theme development, so I couldn’t tweak themes like I’ve gotten used to.
• there are also other media limits and restrictions, though they’re not really that bad; I think I could live with them.

Well, that’s kinda what I’m facing. Lots of pros for WordPress, but the cons are kinda biggies. What do you guys think? Would you stop coming to my blog if I didn’t have the brandonmoon.com domain anymore? The new address would be brandonmoon.wordpress.com, so it wouldn’t change that much. 

Let me know what you think in the comments below! (For reference, here is my Tumblr blog)

Considering Using WordPress

I’m considering using WordPress as my blog from now on, instead of Tumblr. What do you think?

The truth is, those who diligently seek…

“The truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle—one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us—not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed.”

– Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Waiting on the Road to Damascus” General Conference, April 2011

Life Unplugged

Well, I made it through my Internet fast!

While it was a good experience, it wasn’t exactly what I thought it’d be. What surprised me most is that it wasn’t really that different. I didn’t have compulsive urges to get online or anything. But it was surprisingly difficult to cut the Internet out of my life entirely. Something I pretty much failed at doing.

First of all, I allowed email during the fast. Basically, there was too much of a chance I could miss an important email from work. I also had to check things like mint.com or my bank, since I do my money management online. And, well, I have a pretty pitiful music collection. I tried for the first half of the week to only listen to my music, but eventually I broke down and went back to Pandora. Oh, and I left my weather widget running…

In short, I had a surprising amount of interaction with the Internet in spite of my fast. There’s a good portion of my life that does rely on the Internet. I don’t consider this an unhealthy thing though. Finances, email, etc. are all very good uses of the Internet in my mind.

What I did succeed at was untying myself entirely from my social networks. No Facebook, no Google+ (I do check it from time to time), no Twitter, no blog, no socializing of any kind on the Internet really.

Frankly, staying away from social networks didn’t really change things much for me. It was kinda nice to not worry about finding cool links to share, or having to compose a blog post, or anything like that. But that’s fun stuff I do with my free time, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Also, I wasn’t left with a bunch of free time and not knowing what to do with myself. Turns out I just read a lot more, and took up some old hobbies, like origami (which is a lot of fun actually).

The place where my Internet fast made the biggest difference was at work. First of all, I have to make a point here. A bit of browsing during work hours is actually a good thing. To be hyper-focused on one thing can actually be counterproductive sometimes. It’s good to take a break once in a while, and browsing is a perfectly good way to do that.

Unfortunately, I think I’ve wasted quite a bit of time browsing when I should be working. Not to excess or anything (I do get my work done), but it can be a bit of a distraction. I found that during work hours, if I took my breaks doing other things (like origami), it fulfilled that break without being too distracting. It was much easier to get back into the flow of work and get stuff done. This is something I’d like to keep doing.

And so, I’m back online. Without too much damage (either from being away, or from coming back). And I’m pleased to say, I think I’ve already found a pretty good balance.

Challenge Complete!

Well… I did it. I made it to the end of my 30 day challenge. And quite frankly… I’m amazed I made it this far. There were a few times I almost gave up. And there were a few times I struggled to get a post out that day. But here I am, at the end, having completed it… and it feels good!

The more important part, however, is what I learned from this experience:

1. I learned that I actually have a little bit of talent at this. I’ve been surprised by the number of people who have expressed appreciation for and interest in my writing. Is my style perfect? No. Do I have awesome structure to my posts? No. But at least I can communicate my ideas (at least somewhat clearly). And it’s helped me to appreciate my own writing a lot more than before.

2. I learned that there is so much to say, and so few people who care. This may seem contrary to the last post, but let me explain. While I truly appreciate the people who read my blog (that means you), I know that compared with the readership of a lot of other blogs out there, mine is in the minority. I’d be willing to wage, however, that most of you have a blog of your own. Maybe you don’t post much on it, maybe you do, but either way, most of us are generating content online. Amazing amounts of content, really. And sometimes I wonder… are we generating more content than we can consume? I can’t possibly keep up with everything out there that’s being published online every day… nobody can. So why do we get upset when so few people pay attention to what we write? It’s a funny conundrum.

3. Some topics are more controversial than others. My apple posts and my Harry Potter post drew a lot of attention. Yet others, such as my posts about Tasha didn’t seem to draw much attention. I find this a little sad, really, that we express more interest in things of less significance, and less interest in the more meaningful things. It’s not that I don’t doubt you read them, and maybe you really did appreciate them, but I didn’t always see it (though I did see it from my wife—love you honey!).

4. It’s hard to come up with something interesting to post about every day! I’ll admit, a lot of those posts I didn’t spend a ton of time on, and they were kind of grudgingly finished. I also learned that if I open my eyes, I can find something interesting to post about fairly often. And I definitely enjoy posting about something I’m interested in much more than posting about less interesting things.

I’ve enjoyed my adventure. Now it’s time to think up another 30 day challenge!

(Also, this is my 100th post on this blog. How’s that for awesome timing?)

A Bit of a Break

Well, I’m nearing the end of my thirty day challenge. It’s been an interesting adventure, and I’ll have more to say tomorrow (the last post of the challenge), but I wanted to discuss my plans for the week after I finish.

I’ve always heard of people doing such things as a “Facebook fast” or “Internet fast” and always thought that a little strange. I guess I assumed I was good enough at managing my online life that I didn’t need something like that. Since starting this thirty day challenge, I’ve reconsidered. I still think I’m capable of managing my online life, but I can see some positive benefits from being offline.

First of all, computers have made it so easy to distract ourselves. The Internet is so gosh darn ubiquitous nowadays. The recent trend of “apps” has made it even worse. Now not only is there more content out there than we can possibly consume, but we also have so many different ways of consuming it! “Should I check Twitter through my phone or my computer? The website or a different app that also brings in Facebook and Foursquare and LinkedIn? Oh my goodness, there’s a new Twitter app out there. Is it better than my current app? I’ll have to try it.” We almost can’t help ourselves.

My friend wrote a rather cool blog post about how enabling the Internet is. Specialists have been brought down a peg, due to the vast amount of knowledge available—free of charge—on the Internet. We will never be held back for lack of knowledge. We assume, however, that knowledge and wisdom are the same thing. While knowledge can be enabling, it can also be encumbering. It seems that with so much information out there, we end up losing our passions. We hop from one idea to the next, never really delving deep into any one, and consequently not benefiting that much. I myself am guilty of this all the time.

I’m not sure how or when it happened, but somehow I put more importance on the Internet and social networking and “cool things” that I have missed out on some of the things I’m most interested in. Guitar, piano, hiking, building stuff with my hands, enjoying the people I’m with, and most of all… being satisfied with where I am. The incredibly fast pace of the Internet has me always feeling antsy, like I’ve got to get on to the next big thing. I want to enjoy now.

And so, I’ve decided that next week I will take an “Internet fast.” I will turn of data on my phone (my phone becomes surprisingly boring without data), I will restrict myself to work related browsing while at work (something I should be doing more of anyways), and I will stay offline wherever else I am. I will find other ways to enjoy my time, and I will catch up on the things I should be paying more attention to.

I’m excited!

(Don’t worry though, I’ll be back to post more. Maybe not as much, but I’ll be here.)

Five Low-Hanging UX Tips

Five Low-Hanging UX Tips

This is a very good piece on the basic elements of design. I wish more people knew how to do this. Technology has somehow estranged a large number of artists. It’s sad really, cuz they are the ones we really need to make technology truly beautiful.

Moments are the molecules that make up eternity.

“Moments are the molecules that make up eternity.”

– Neal A. Maxwell

Moments That Matter Most

My wife showed me this video a while back. It’s from Mormon Messages, and I love it.  This summer has been an incredibly crazy summer. My wife and I made a list at the beginning of the summer, and so far I don’t think we’ve accomplished a single thing on it. You may have heard of some of the things we have gone through though: the IRS asking for $4000 in miscalculated taxes, both of us going to the doctor several times for different health concerns, my mom breaking her hip and helping her out, an unbelievably hot apartment, family vacations and reunions, my wife blogging for BYU WSR and changing jobs, previous boyfriend drama, school, work, the list goes on and on. Not to mention being newly married and just trying to adjust to that. We’ve had a little bit of a hard time keeping up with it all.

Which is why I love this message right now. It reminds me of the things I should be focusing on. So without further ado, here are some of the moments in the last few months that have mattered most to me:

• An amazing open house for our wedding down in California.
• Watching ridiculous Disney movies
• Late night conversations about nothing in particular
• My wife’s absolutely adorable smile
• Laid back Sunday mornings (now that church is at 11:00 instead of 8:00)
• Skyping with the Hintons
• Going out to eat at Costco
• Reading the Remembering Isaac series
• Snuggling with my wife every night
• Sweet sweet compliments

I could list many more, but these are just a few. I love my life!