I haven't done an #FTTF post in quite a while.  It's been since last May!

But it's for a great cause.  It's all in the name of privacy, encryption, and security.  And best of all, a couple of my favorite people founded the company.  I hope to be trying out the browser soon on my new #blackberry #KEYone.  That's right.  A new blackberry WITH A FULL KEYBOARD is coming out next month.  And it also gives me a chance to use an app from CakeCodes (full disclosure: I am an investor) that is only available on Android.

These t-shirts are high quality 100% cotton.  The medium fits me very well.  You can always tell a t-shirt is nice by checking the tag.  These are "District Made" with some very nice satin nylon tags.  I haven't heard of District Made, but the satin tag is what really gives it away.  

​To the Tenta team: well done on the selection of it!

Example number one of thinking to yourself:
Where did that email go?  Oh, here it is.  No.  It doesn't have that attachment I need.  That's not the right email.  Where the heck did it go?  Did I file it somewhere?  Maybe I detached that file to save email server quota.  But then I know I saved the file someplace.  Now I have to look through all the files on my hard drive...

Example number two between two information workers:
"I don't see it."
     "What?  I just sent it to you yesterday."

"I'm looking at all the emails you sent me in the last five days and I don't see an email with an attachment."
     "Maybe I sent it through our Instant Messenger session."

"Okay, let me check the conversation history."
     "And while you do that I'll go ahead and email it again."

"No, no, don't do that.  Let me look first.  Give me a chance to find it."
     "Ok."
     "Find it yet?"

"Hold on.  Gimme another minute."
     "Ok, so I got the file and I can send it again when you're ready."

"Fine.  Go ahead and send it again.  I SWEAR I saw it.  I KNOW I saw it.  Where the hell did it go?"
     "Don't worry about it.  It's no big deal."

"No, it is a big deal because I feel like I'm going crazy.  Why does this happen all the time?"
     "I don't care.  Let's hurry up and finish.  We already wasted enough time."

"Fine."

((( A week later... a bug was discovered.  IT sent out a company-wide notification.  The bug happen to randomly delete emails with suspicious attachments that were perfectly FINE. )))


There is actually a clinical diagnosis for this kind of hellish world.  There was even an old movie based on it.  And then the term from the movie became the clinical diagnosis.  It's called gas lighting.  It's a very effective way of driving someone insane.  And that's what computers do to information workers every day!  Yay!

P.S.  And yes, an evil manager can do the same shit to an undesirable employee.  It's super evil behavior.  Just like your computer and its faulty software, you don't want a manager like that.

I haven't done a big detailed food post in a while, so here goes.

Yelp, baby.

it's a very nice, wide open store that is well lit in the middle of the day.  i got there around 12:45pm and you would expect that the place would be packed with lunchers, but it wasn't.  and the parking lot was really easy to park in.

if you park directly across the street from the restaurant, and you don't want to walk to one far intersection or another, then you will choose to jay walk to go straight in.  when i was sitting eating my LCB (little cheese burger), i saw a few people do the same as i did: jay walk.  after you chicken run across the street, then you walk up across a grassy incline to the front door.  if there was more foot traffic from the parking lot jay walking, then there would probably be a dead path of grass that they would have to stone over to keep it looking pretty.

I think the shopping center needs to do some extra marketing or something special to get more people in through here.  Maybe the 'hood had a bad reputation or something.  I don't know.  Maybe it's because it was a Monday.  I don't know, but it seemed like it should be more busy.

for me, the LCB, as they call it, is the perfect amount of beef.  i don't need too much because ground beef is so rich and fatty.  you think having more beef is good, but it will probably just kill you faster.  anyways, i finally noticed today that they toast the buns.  and that reminded me of In-n-Out.  For me, In-n-Out is the gold standard for really good fast food burgers.  It seems like these guys basically did their non-Christian version of In-n-Out and have done a great job.  lightly toasted burger buns are so damn good!

the peanut deal is unique.  but i'm not so into that.

it's $6.45 for an LCB.  whether you get it all the way, or plain, it's $6.45.  to me, for a fast food place, it's a bit expensive.  but i get it.  they have a unique brand, they have very, very specific decor, the vibe is good - they were playing Beck's 'Devil's Haircut' while i was munching on my burger.  but i am pretty sure that according to fast food standards, $6.45 for just the burger is a bit high.  it's okay though, i like it.  I just need to remember to not get the pickles on the 'all they way LCB'.

here's the last observation.  the little light wood colored chairs sit really low to the tables.  i have no idea why it's like that.  the tables look like they are the normal height.  all i know is, i usually sit pretty high (if i sit up straight) to the table.  but in this case, even if I sat up straight as a stick, i still felt like i had to struggle to get my elbows on the table.  maybe they want your face to be as close to the table as possible so that when your pigging out on your burger there will be less chance that the burger bits will fly onto the floor.  of course it could be just dumb luck that the tables and chairs are like that.

the burger is good though.  i really like the cajun seasoning you can get on the fries, but the last time i tried them, they were a bit too soggy.  it might be a product of the fact that the potatoes are fresh.  like In-n-Out.  i find that In-n-Out fries tend to be a little too soggy for me too.  but that doesn't stop me from eating a lot of them.

It's always going to be interesting when the first-time-dad is left to provide childcare. I was given instructions to "make him happy."
And it made me realize that maybe Sebby really isn't capable at 13 months of age to make himself happy.  There are extremely short glimmers of it every once in a while when he is playing by himself.  And it misleads me.  But he pretty much he has to rely on his caregiver for happiness and enjoyment.

It's crazy how that skill is foundational for a human. 

You MUST be able to make yourself happy.  

Sebastian - 
Somehow, someway, you have to figure it out for yourself.  You sure as hell didn't get asked to be brought into this world, but you're stuck now.  It's my responsibility to do the best I can to teach you how to make the best of it.  I can give you some tools.  But somehow you have to figure out how to make yourself happy without a dependency of something or someone else.  Do it and you will have, by my calculations, about 51% of your short existence figured out. 

So I'm trying and wanting to use a certain web site and it's another site that is asking me for my userid+password for a one-time authentication.  While I can appreciate the high level of security the site wants to impose on it's users due to the risk of fraud by bad actors, it reminds me of the three most important rules for a brick+mortar retail store:

1. Location
2. Location
3. Location

So the three most important rules for passwords are:

1. Never give out your password.
2. Never give out your password.
3. Never give out your password.

It still astonishes me that in 2017 there are Information Technology departments in companies who ask their users for their passwords to do troubleshooting.

No.  Never.

It's like one friend of mine said "it's junk food for your brain."

And it's totally true.  Don't get me wrong.  i LOVE junk food.  potato chips, doughnuts, cheetos, soda, tortilla chips, popcorn, dark chocolate kit kat, ice cream, kettle style potato chips... the goes on and on.

And it's coincidental that I have had to seriously cut back on my consumption of junk food because my metabolism has finally hit a wall.  My mid-life tragedy is almost complete.  So I have had to also cut back on my consumption of this one really bad brain junk food too: facebook.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't totally 100% taken facebook junk food out of my diet yet, but it's been seriously curtailed.  And yes, I love my seeing my friends and family too.  But there are limits to everything in life.

I've been running some self-experimentation, in the style of Tim Ferriss to figure out what works for me.  And ever since Nov. 8, 2016, I have found that participating in facebook, especially on mobile, is not healthy for my brain.  Along with making me impatient and angry, when I am on it, I want more of it.  Like a casino and its slot machines that practice variable ratio reinforcement on you, if I don't see a post that entertains or informs me, then I look for another.  After the satisfaction of consumed, it, I seek more.  And so on and so forth.  

I also realized that I also continued to think of fun, clever, and entertaining or informative posts to share.  It felt like I was in a self-contained coopetition with my friends for fun, clever, informative, and entertaining shit to share.  So not only was I wasting my time consuming brain junk food with variable ratio reinforcement, but I was also contributing to the consumption of it by others.  In my spare brain cycles, I would constantly be thinking of taking this picture or that picture and making a joke or sarcastic comment.  AND YES, while very fun and engaging with my friends, it was a hamster wheel.  It didn't help me to earn more money, it didn't help me to be better at my day job, it didn't help me be a better husband or father, it didn't help me get more accomplished in my nights and weekends jobs, and it didn't make by body more healthy.

I am happy to report that for me, I am back to reading great books, and listening to very short snippets of national and local news to keep me informed about what is going on and I FEEL and THINK more clearly now.  CLARITY.  I am more focused on an exciting possible new side business venture involving bitcoin too.  FOCUS.  Just like the song goes, "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone."  I don't allow myself to facebook on a mobile device.  DISCIPLINE.

I will not participate in a drone-like existence to further the maniacal efforts of The Zuck to take over every aspect of the online world, to mine what I do, to sell my information, and to profit while not making the world a better place.  Here is an interesting critique of his manifesto.

Anyways, if you read this far, then thanks for making it.  Hope to see you IRL soon.
​