Pandora Thomas Newman is far too dramatic for maintaining concentration (but is an amazing station normally), but the Piano Solo Genre station may work. Apart from having a calm melody to temper my thoughts while studying, I am empowered to create less distracting ambient noise to replace the horrible situations on a commute, etc.

Calendars, contacts, “scanning” by photo, quick uploads/backups/access anywhere. Oh man the iPhone is the best phone.

I would get one immediately no matter what the current part of your educational career is. If I had this during undergrad I predict at least an 0.1 better cumulative GPA and a lot less stress.

The con, I guess? Potential distraction!

Having done quite a bit of work already I feel alive being busy again. My organizational skills have certainly taken a hit as there’s been so little demand for them since college. For example, one general notebook, to serve as sort of a facebook feed to review periodically, will be insufficient in light of no laptop rules in certain classes. (This rule is very, very good for me).

An additional organizational pillar is tagging, which is one small element I’ll be adding to briefs. Hopefully I can find a way to incorporate them into my third and final macro strategy, OneNote.

Beaming now that I’m back in school. Delighted to be meeting a set of friends with similar interests and attitudes. Boston, when sunny, is beautiful. But when rainy, you can run into this too.

Saying it cautiously, but I am in heaven.

Your best bet for a timely response is one of these three, and man, I will try my damndest not to seem like I’m ignoring you.

1) bert dot forsythe at gmail dot com
2) facebook messages
3) voicemail

I’ll probably still idle on meebo for quick talks (gchat is best) but if it becomes too distracting  it may get the axe. Sundays, though, will be days of rest.

Thus I hope to hear from you on Sundays. And I hope to make you proud, and see you on the other side

Here are my top 5 moments:

#5 – Armstrong’s 16 run

I was so mad at myself for sleeping in this day and missing Lance’s most dominant stage. An article talking about how his 38-year old legs were no match for those of the 20-something Frenchman who won got me the update and I got to watch the stage in the prime time coverage. Knowing that it was his last Tour made his long lead feel so legendary.

#4 – Contador’s 19 time trial

Stage 19 was actually the first time trial I got to watch, and man it was intense. Cancellara absolutely destroyed it and it was disappointing that his time wasn’t covered. But seeing Contador’s manager screaming, the 2009 champ picking it up, and his visceral facial expression on the acceleration at the finish makes #4.

#3 – Chavanel’s two breakaways in 2 and 7

With Armstrong out of contention by Stage 7 and me having no idea who any of these guys were yet, seeing Chavanel break away in the Alps and keep his lead, solo sometimes, was quite the spectacle.

#2 – Armstrong’s 3-crash day

I went into the Tour with a very typical, American, “go Lance” attitude. That never dissolved, but as the race ended it was accompanied by admiration for many other riders. His triple crash day was so very heartrending, but I really appreciated the consequences for me as a spectator: seeing his determination, opening an opportunity to learn about other guys, and being less, well, typical.

#1 – Andy Schleck’s chain in the Pyrenees

Ethically, the circumstances could not have been worse for Schleck. It was the final hill of the stage, the margin was tiny, and Contador’s adrenaline was likely through the roof as the attack against him was seemingly successful. Thus, the debate on whether the move into first that was made when Andy’s chain fell of is probably way thornier than past precedents set in yellow jersey changes via mechanical failure situations.

Regardless, as unfortunate as it was for Schleck, this event constitutes an amazing moment in sports. Apart from the practical angle of crisis management it has created an almost irreconcilable point of contention around the question: should he have waited? It created so much intensity in the remaining stages much like that of a Game 7 in basketball, baseball, and hockey or overtime in soccer or football. I’m lovin’ it.

Additionally

Cavendish is a god.

Livestrong is awesome too – really loved the jersey stunt in Paris. Incidentally I’m running my first race for a good cause and hope I can do a Livestrong challenge or two in the coming years.

The best looking jersey girls are either for the white jersey or final yellow (Jenn Sterger isn’t bad either). 30 Seconds to Mars does some great theme songs. Saw this brilliant video for the first time:

I want a bike.

As the game market continues to explode with major publishers consolidating at an equally astonishing clip, what representation will creative talent need in the industry of tomorrow? Although as they grow Activision and EA are becoming increasingly vilified by gamers and workers alike, what hard lessons and growing pains from similarly evolving industries like publishing, film, and music can be mitigated?

By now anyone who doubts the game industry’s stature beside these and other entertainment industries is like Rand Paul categorically arguing against the Civil Rights Act on national TV. Sports agent, acting agent, game dev agent? They don’t customarily have representation before employment now but they do have lawyers after incidents. Wouldn’t the former be a better alternative?

All the implications of that Internet

Within the past few days, Wikileaks has released tons of confidential US military documents. How will and can they be pursued legally (haven’t been able to load the site at all today!)? What rights to access such information are emerging in the age? Episodes like this definitely seem unstoppable within the current framework, but maybe a new and more capable one could be forthcoming. Maybe not, and if not, there will need to be new tools to minimize and control the effects.

On Facebook, etc: It seems like a privacy violation story breaks weekly after social networks make minor tweaks to their settings. Privacy is one of the most interesting and elusive legal issues (sup penumbrae) and takes on a whole new form with so much traditionally private information being digitized and transferred all over the place.

And the big monetization question ever lurks. I love how, related to my first point, microtransaction based games are proving richly profitable for networks while the results of ads, except for Google’s case, have been modest. iTunes music and apps have set a new precedent that Hulu is tweaking, yet the majority of rights holders resist and resist. New ideas cometh and helping them blossom sounds very exciting.

Telecom was a monopoly

But is it still? The business model and operations still reek of single or dual party control of the majority of the industry. We see it in high-profile, controversial cases involving iPhone exclusivity or Google Voice and voip alternatives to staggeringly priced voice plans. But it could be argued that there is much more; ingrained attitudes and corporate culture directly from the Ma Bell days lurk, creaky craft union organization is expensively applied to retail store and call center workers, and competitors like Wimax and Lightsquared are chipping away despite having a hard time before.

Hopeful that I can work on big, cool issues.

I left not so much a changed man, rather, our few hours’ of exchange had an effect of reinvigoration, one that is common after such meetings with old friends.

Their stories and advice are inspirational, the way they poke at your memory and put you back in places you had forgotten is magical, and, selfishly I suppose, the good feeling you get for knowing you’ve been a good friend by reuniting is warming.

Soon, in school, I worry that I won’t be able to take as much time to nurture these relationships, even via the internet. So if you are or will be an old friend, please don’t give up on me If you ask, eventually, I’ll put you down for a drink at some point, be it near or far, in the future.

Thus the question: is it worth $100 for Apple’s cloud services? I found my “trial” year earned simply by working for AT&T to be pretty informative in the face of said question. MobileMe is roughly equal to Google Sync in terms of basic services rendered: your calendars will sync in real time, contacts will be backed up and synced, and email will have some exchange-like features such as detailed contact information and a different style of pushing.

Essentially, Apple offers two things I like that Google doesn’t: A button within the photo app to automatically send to MobileMe and Find my iPhone, or device GPS tracking. The button, along with the policy of locking you out from your data, is anti-trust-like and cheating, so even if convenient I make it a non-issue in protest and adapt to Picasa via iPhone. Find my iPhone is genuinely valuable, but just not worth $100.

MobileMe is Apple’s worst product by far. Even Apple TV has a decent value proposition in a market where no set top boxes are really fantastic. But the value proposition of a pay-only, walled off service that probably derives an appreciable fraction of its sales from people desperate to recover their data and credit-card-requiring-trial users who forget to cancel, especially with amazing free alternatives available, is nil to me.

Let’s hope the rumors are true and Apple either implements a free level of Me service or just makes it free outright. Personally though, I’ll already be used to Google Sync.

Book Report

The Johns had very similar backgrounds: broken families, rejects at school, and an unfettered love for gaming. Most notably they were the best at what they did, programming, and looked down on everyone else who tried but couldn’t compete. From their meeting at Softdisk until the untimely breakup, as lots of people have observed, some of the greatest strides in technical computing were made because of their seismic and magnetic genius. The demise of Romero post-Quake as told through the Ion Storm story and the dwindling of Carmack’s ambition in the face of id becoming rather crowded and corporate were sad, but the happiness that seemed to follow for them both cleared that up.

Plenty of moments that I learned of, like this one, were great.

Romero v Carmack

Clearly, the more technically gifted Carmack probably wins more votes than the brash, arrogant Romero. Upon pondering whether it could have all happened without Romero, though, I think he was just as important and contributed just as much to his success in the beginning.

Never Learned Programming

After reading Rand and seeing the role of things like wood, steel, and electricity played in innovation during the last century, I really strongly believe that programming is the new, almost exclusive tool for innovation today. Not learning this crucial skill has kept me from getting many great jobs (game industry, finance) and is very disappointing.

Rage

Without a doubt, John Carmack is one of the most deft engine programmers ever. Seeing some coverage of his newest project, Rage, excites me oodles and can hopefully reproduce that wonderful, visceral experience that old id games are known for. I’m keeping news-scouring about it to a minimum so I don’t even know if it has multiplayer or anything, but if you’re as excited as I am let me know.

Homo sapiens, or homo ludens?

• Family Reunion: Aside from the explicit reunion happening July 4th weekend, I want to visit as many relatives as possible. I am becoming an uncle, which is both unbelievable and exciting. Being in school will be rough on the family life, so now is my best opportunity to reforge some bonds.

• Lean Meat: 40/40/20 Protein/Fat/Carb. Need to learn some recipes to carry into law school.

• Vacation: Birmingham itself will be a vacation, but trips are planned to Tybee Island to tan and Nashville to grovel.

• Long Lost Friends: I miss my beloved Birmingham friends, some whom I haven’t met with since around high school. If all goes well the schedule will be rife with reunions and reminiscence.

• Regimen Prep: Falling asleep two hours after going to bed at 2am on days I’ve made irresponsible sleep choices is becoming more and more intolerable. Circadian realignment is at the top of the agenda starting around the middle of July. Reading for more than 30 minutes to an hour per day is a must as well. And don’t even think about catching up on games, me.

Mens sea in corpore sano