Just testing

Just testing to see if this thing is still working.

Thoughts on Google software

When Google introduced Google Keep a few weeks ago, I tried it out, was thrilled, and immediately converted all my notes that were in Catch Notes to Google Keep, but I've been having second thoughts almost from the beginning. Keep is very primitive and doesn't seem to be evolving; I had assumed that Google would quickly upgrade the bare-bones product so it could really compete with Catch, but that hasn't happened, while Catch continues to evolve. So I think I'm going to bite the bullet and convert back to Catch, not a terribly big job. I can't realistically use both concurrently, not seriously, at least, since they do not talk to each other and so cannot auto-synchronize, and I need to know I have my data in at least one reliable location.

The situation is somewhat similar with Google Drive versus Dropbox: I immediately adopted Drive when it finally was released and started using it where I had been using Dropbox (as well as Box, Skydrive, Ubuntu One, Mozy Stash, and a few other cloud storage services). Now I see that Drive is not really that great, and Dropbox is very fast and reliable in comparison, as is Box. So I'm shifting away from using Drive to using some of the others. But fortunately, I don't have to choose just one, as I have to do with Keep and Catch; I can (and do) use as many cloud storage services as I want all at the same time, with no conflict.

Google's software is typically so good that I tend to assume that everything they release is going to be best of breed, but this is obviously not true. Chrome, for example, doesn't do much for me as browsers go; I find Firefox better but I like that Chrome has a strong following. And on Android, Chrome seems amazingly slow so Firefox in this case is far better, especially considering the extra features Firefox has that are not found on any other Android browser. Of course, I don't expect anyone to agree with me on this. By the way, my second-favorite Android browser is Boat, which would almost be better than Firefox except that it's missing Firefox's invaluable pretty-printing feature, something that others are sure to copy eventually.

Me versus my life

I have on several occasions noticed that some people -- maybe most -- fail to make a distinction between themselves and their lives. To me these are distinct entities, that is, I am entirely different from my life. If I interview for a job and don't get it, then my life may have taken a beating, but I am just the same as before, albeit possibly with slightly decreased self-esteem. If I crash my car but walk away from the accident, again my life has suffered but I am fine. Inheriting a million bucks improves my life but does nothing for me.

We could say that I am my body or, if you prefer, my body and my mind, but my life comprises my car, my home, my friends, my clothing, my job, my status, my reputation, and so on. A derelict sleeping on the street might have a wreck of a life but still have a sound body and mind though, of course, if he's on the street because of alcoholism, for example, then his body and mind might also be a mess. These days there are certainly plenty of professional people who have fallen on hard times, perhaps lost their job, then lost everything else, and so appear to be pretty bad off. But the person might actually be quite all right -- just as smart and interesting and knowledgeable and articulate as ever -- but their life has gone down the tubes. In many cases, a big pile of money might be all it takes to change a good person with a bad life into a good person with a good life.

So it's important not to confuse the two.

Some potential topics

Here are some of the potential topics that have been knocking around inside my skull for the past two or three days:

• Me versus my life
• On being the only person controlling what happens in my life
• Synchronous versus asynchronous (interpersonal) communication
• Did I ask to be in this conversation?
• Defensive living

Ideas burning holes in the back of my skull

I may actually start using this blog soon, as I have ideas burning holes in the back of my skull and they're not slowing down; I need to get them down "on paper." I already have four or five topics. I hope to start writing them up in the next day or so.

Another unnecessary post

Here's another post just for the purpose of keeping this thing alive. One of these days I will actually use this blog.

Another silly post

Okay, this is the second posting on my blog. I'm just trying this thing out to get used to it.

Just trying this out...

nothing much to say right now