Simple!

North Dakota Oil

pobrian — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:57:40 +0000

Recently there have been several articles about North Dakota and oil being discovered and extracted. There has been a glut of workers, mostly men, who have made their way to the area for the jobs that are available. This situation has gone unnoticed by me until just this last week. I find it hard to understand why there hasn’t been more news coverage. If the commentary I have read is correct, this oil being extracted will change our whole relationship to the middle east and will add significantly to our government tax receipts. Possibly enough to change the dynamics of the deficits we have now. I just find this staggering. How could this be so unnoticed by everyone?

Filed under: Business Life, Who We Are Tagged: Budget Deficit, Jobs, North Dakota, Oil

Leaders who can’t Lead

pobrian — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:50:56 +0000

I am getting a little tired of the ‘leaders’ here in the U.S.A. who can’t lead. They keep mentioning that businesses can’t move ahead because of uncertainty, but they seemingly fail to realize that they are causing all that uncertainty. Instead of talk about taxes or no taxes, health care, etc., the real issue is that there is little value in the leadership that we are electing (hiring) to run this government. Stop talking past each other and govern!

Filed under: What I Believe Tagged: congress, government, Leadership, washington

What Motivates Us at Work

pobrian — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:30:53 +0000

This is so great…

Filed under: Business Life, What I Believe, Who We Are Tagged: bonuses, money, motivation, working

Technology – Devises

pobrian — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:39:29 +0000

I mentioned in my previous post that I was writing on my iPhone. For most people that isn’t a big deal. For me, with my old eyes it is. The phone format (size) is just a little too small for me to work. I’ve tried several times. I need a large screen.

The MacBook Air 13” size is about as small as I can reasonably work and feel comfortable.

My wife has an iPad and I have played with it extensively with the idea that I might want to go to that platform for my reading and writing work, but it just isn’t comfortable for me. Reading is okay – the screen is clear and is a lot of fun. The trouble is with the keyboard. I want a real keyboard. I touch type and I’m pretty fast and accurate. I can write while I’m thinking. Typing on the screen stops the thought process while I concentrate on hitting the exact right spot. Without the physical feel of keys I am forced to look at where I’m typing. I’ve gotten better, but it just isn’t the same writing experience. I am relegating the iPad to a devise the is wonderful for surfing the web and reading content there, but not for serious efforts to create that content.

Also, I prefer to read on my Kindle. Mine is older – a Kindle 2. I read a lot and probably average two hours a day reading. I know what I like. The lighter weight of the devise and the screen clarity. Also, not having the brightness of the iPad or my computer glaring at me when I’m into the story. The devise doesn’t get in the way of the story. I like that a lot. I’m looking forward to buying another Kindle soon. I am waiting to see what they come up with next.

You can see that I’m a heavy user of technology and devises. I like them. I enjoy the adventure of learning about them. My MBA (MacBook Air) is old too. I have the very first version of that devise. By today’s standards it’s slow and the hard-drive is tiny. For writing it hasn’t mattered. I have plenty of space for documents. I don’t add songs or photos other than what I find on line or occasionally import from my desktop system. It has worked. Now though its getting old in a physical sense. I think the upgrades in system software and more advanced websites with video especially is taxing it. The fan is on more and it is heating up more often. I’m starting to think ahead toward a newer setup.

Another MBA – still 13” – would be okay. I am playing with the idea of going for a MacBook Pro though. The weight would be more, and I wouldn’t like that, but what I’m thinking about is getting a 27” Apple Screen and using the MBP as an exclusive devise – retiring the several computers I use now, and condensing the whole of my computer experience into one place.

Adding that simplification to the upcoming cloud based storage plans for photos, songs, and documents – not to mention calendars, to do’s, and contacts – and the whole deal ought to be a lot easier to manage.

As always, I enjoy the process of planning, looking, and thinking of other options like the Google Chromebook that I’ve written about. Fun stuff for me.

Filed under: Fun Stuff, Products and Brands, Simplify Life Tagged: Apple, kindle, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Reading, Writing

Apple WWDC Keynote

pobrian — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:19:39 +0000

This morning I watched the Apple WWDC Keynote Address. Apple introduced several interesting new features and software items. What I got out of it though was the tying together of all my hardware appliances. Things are changing still.

I’m writing this on my iPhone.

Filed under: Fun Stuff Tagged: Apple