cleaning out my inbox.

my mom always told me to clean my room. so in honor of mother's day, i do that virtually (considering my mom is my biggest fan online).


there's a theory about a clean inbox = (1) a clean mind, or (2) a waste of time. i'm somewhere in between the two schools of thought, occasionally taking the time to filter through all of things sent to me and sent to my self (sometimes as notes for this very bloog). here is my attempt to sort thru the mess in one fell swoop:


1. haggling for hot dogs - an Esquire journalist on negotiation. more story than tips, but ultimately entertraining. sent by my buddy Ankur in August 2007. yep. that's how long it sat in my inbox before reading it today (8 months later)


2. speak good english, la - as seen on the MRT (subway) in Singapore way back when (November 2007). the use of "Singlish" has become enough of a government program for them to take to the streets with advertising of the official "Speak Good English Movement" (while i get that it's being used as an adjective here, it's still humorously reminiscent of earlier adverb/adjective hijinks...but i guess the joke is really one me):


3. pallalink.net - i read this one in Wired a few months ago. basically take the time to get lost
in photographer Palla's "kaleidoscopic images of Japanese cityscapes"

4. mixmeister BPM analyzer - my roommate Jason showed me this one - basically a program that takes your music and reports the average BPM of each track. easily exportable into any music playing program - and ideal for syncing your tunes to fit the soundtrack of your life (running, coding, reading, etc).


5. femtocell technology - read about this one in the Econmist several weeks ago. the gist - "a home-based technology [like wireless routers] to provide solid indoor [mobile phone] coverage and allow residents to make cheap calls using their existing handsets. leave the house while chatting, and your call is automatically handed over to the wider mobile-phone network." this is clearly game-changing technology (and an idea i said "why can't this happen" to years ago, and am very glad to see it coming to life finally), but to the point of the Economist, "the mobile industry's 'next big things' often turn out to be smaller than expected."


6. the story of stuff - an interesting commentary on our consumerist ways, and the product lifecycle of the materials economy. interestingly enough, i found this via the "stuff white people like" blog (link excluded to keep us on track). here's the gist:


7. this billboard was seen at my bus stop a few weeks back. it is part of a larger local, outdoor advertising campaign by radio station WEBN.
now i don't listen to WEBN (rather, the few times i DO listen to the local radio-waves outside my head, i find my way to 94.9 the Sound, effectively, a cool person's ipod plugged into a radio tower - online ads at their site subsize most of the operational costs, and consumers are driven to the site to request music, and check out playlists for the cool tunes they just heard). back on topic - WEBN's above billboard campaign is an interesting attempt at "reverse psychology" advertising. you see, WEBN positions itself as the cool, working man's radio station. this ad campaign, which has a bunch of immature, but clever-named characters (hailing from the more yuppie-tastic neighborhoods in town like Mt.Adams and Hyde Park) providing testimonial AGAINST the station. incidentally enough, this sign is on the fringes between one such neighborhood and the rougher neighborhoods of East Walnut Hills, where i reside.


8. hello flag money. saw this while walking around town a few weeks ago (it's in Oakley on Madison for all my local readers):
it reminded me of a hilarious bit from the David Cross album Shut Up You F*cking Baby. i couldn't find it anywhere online for you to read/listen to, so you'll have to either trust me on this one, or go listen for yourself.


9. jell-O museum, and other assorted interests in NY. i found this article in the NY Times to be interesting enough for me to seriously consider my next living destination. if you don't read the article, at least take a look at the map:


alright. that's all i got. but i did get my gmal inbox down from 72 to 17 messages. now if only i could (1) use my company-appointed legal services to get my will sorted out, (2) send off a DVD of malaysia pics to my mom's princi-pal, (3) look into signing up for a referred meditation course on the Northside, (4) sort out my condo association's insurance woes, (5) update my resume for the sake of head hunters of the world, (6) refinance my house to take advantage of the down housing market, and (7) make some chocolate chip banana bread, i'd have an an even more empty inbox.

i'd rather go read thanks.