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Levenger Circa
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This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.

I am currently geeking out about this:

It’s called the Circa Notebook System, by Levenger. It’s basically best described as an intensely customizable notebook/binder/organizer. The design of the binding allows pages to be easily removed and replaced however necessary, without popping open binder rings or tearing pages. Dividers, a million different types of filler paper, and tons of other options are available in order to customize your notebook just as you need it, and you can buy a Circa hole punch so that anything can fit securely inside.

The idea of super-flexible, modular, and simple notebook/binder-type organization really appeals to me.

Header image: “My Levenger Circa notebook” by Jaime Wong. Original licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license. Modified: desaturated, edited exposure. My modification is released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

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Dear Spencer:

Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that you have been admitted to Whitman College for the class entering in the fall of 2009…

So began the process, almost nine months ago. Or, perhaps, so began another step in this journey, a journey that started years ago as I sat on my couch opening envelopes from various colleges, trying to pick the gems out of the garbage.

Whatever. Continue reading →

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Behind the Scenes

I’ve upgraded the blog’s version of WordPress yet again, and given it yet another snazzy new theme. This theme is still getting some wrinkles ironed out of it; hopefully, within a few days, it will have a cooler, more personalized header image, and maybe a different color scheme.

Also of note are some new sidebar gadgets! You can read my latest Twitter posts, browse the blog through tags, or view some quotes I particularly enjoy[ref]To reload a new, random quote, click the quote box.[/ref], all along the right side of the page.

I’ve also spent some time trying to clean up redundancies within categories and tags. I’ve pared down the list of categories (you can see them in the top right of the page), and resorted to tags to define other categorical things. For instance, all political posts are tagged with “politics,” rather than put in a “Politics” category. Of course, this makes no difference to anyone but me.

Permalinks now work again, so you can make pretty bookmarks that look more like this:

http://spencerdub.me/blog/2009/06/riding-the-wave/

rather than this:

http://spencerdub.me/blog/?p=291

Finally, the blog has been moving around a bit lately, but this should be its new home for good (or, at least, for a considerable time). You’ll notice that the URL has nothing to do with the title of the blog. That’s because I may change the blog’s title in the future, but I really don’t want to mess up everyone’s[ref]I say “everyone,” but I mean “the three people who read this blog.”[/ref] links again.

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Stale Content Alert!

This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.

I am not currently a happy Spencer.

For a month or so, I have been trying to find a job. It’s summer and I’m about to be a college student; there are things I really need to pay for and pay off. Among the items at the top of my list are a new bicycle and a number of accessories for it, as well as various items for my computer, new clothes… the works. I could definitely use a bit of an income, for a number of obvious and logical reasons.

Unfortunately for me, it feels as though there are a million and a half things stacked against me. For starters, I have no experience. I’ve been so busy being a high-achieving high school student in the last four years that I haven’t actually had time to hold a job. This is problematic by itself, but when coupled with the current state of the economy, it’s downright nasty. Continue reading →

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Riding the Wave

(or, “Why I’m excited about Google Wave, and why you should be too”)

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This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.

Google Wave logoForgive me if I’m excited (especially to my really close friends, who have heard me geek out about this way too much). However, Google’s upcoming new development, called “Google Wave,” has (at least I think) the potential to totally revolutionize online communication.

I know, I know, I’m being a little dramatic. Revolutionize online communication? But I truly believe it. I think Google’s next development could totally change the way we communicate online, bringing it more in-line with the current developments in information technology.

More of my thoughts after the jump. Continue reading →

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What an interesting few weeks it has been.

I haven’t been able to blog lately due to some connectivity issues– when I’m on my local network, I can’t, for some reason, access the blog. Right now I’m leeching connection from my neighbor, which is why I can post. I’d love to get this fixed, but it may require a new URL for the blog. I’ll keep you posted.

Unfortunately, since it’s 12:37 on a school night, I don’t have time to write about everything that’s happened. I had an amazing but unorthodox Christmas and New Year’s, we got tons of snow, and– oh yeah– I got accepted to Whitman College, my top choice for schools. I’m psyched.

Also, in a slightly more materialistic vein, I received tons of awesome presents for Christmas. Individual thank-yous will come later, but I want to thank everyone who gave me such thoughtful, exciting gifts. From what I’ve seen amongst family and friends, it seemed like everyone gave good gifts this year, coincidentally enough. I’m fairly certain I made a good few people happy with my gifts, which is a wonderful feeling. It was also great just to bond and hang out with family and friends. Thanks, everyone.

Since I had a great Christmas, I don’t want to add too much to my birthday wishlist (oh, by the way, I magically become an adult in less than three weeks), but every so often, something strikes me that I’d simply adore to receive.[ref]insert obligatory apologetic statement here about not wanting to be greedy or ungrateful. I don’t want to be that way at all– but I also realize that I probably apologize way too much for things that aren’t even problems except in my own crazy mind. If the addition to my wishlist offends you, please consider this apology.[/ref] Right now, that thing is Doctor Horrible merchandise– specifically, the DVD and the soundtrack. If you haven’t checked it out, take 45 minutes out and watch it. It’s a short musical-comedy-tragedy that was written during the writer’s strike by Joss Whedon, writer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and stars Neil Patrick Harris as a low-rent supervillain who’s trying to make his way up (down?) in the world, but also wants to win the attention of the girl of his dreams. It’s fantastically witty, very catchy, and moving (at least for me) at the end. It’s not a paragon of excellence that will set the bar for generations to come, but it’s damn good entertainment for 45 minutes. Check it out.

Anyway. I’ll try to blog more this year, as life is about to get very interesting, and I’m sure that the Internet wants to hear about nothing more than it does my life.

I’ve just got to get this connection thing fixed first.

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Tonight, I opened my giant chest of Legos and built things.

I was in the bin of plastic bricks, my face inches away from those tiny little choking hazards that were my childhood, hearing the roar of a plastic ocean as I pushed wave after wave away from my face, looking for that one exact piece.

It was so much fun.

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Stale Content Alert!

This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.

Come on, people!

What’s happened to our conversation? We’ve become a bunch of spineless, light-footed lemurs, afraid to say anything that might step on someone else’s toes or offend anyone else in any way at all. All of us. We’re caught up in modifiers and justifiers, constantly making excuses in order to keep ourselves from pushing people too hard.

It’s too late at night to come up with examples, but watch your discourse with others. Watch others’ discourse. We’ve become ridiculously self-censoring, myself included.

I’m not advocating going out and being rude, that’s absurd. Manners have their place. But there are manners, and then there’s simply regularly cutting your feet out from under you, and the latter is happening one hell of a lot.

Random thought of the night.

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Stale Content Alert!

This post was written a long time ago, and my views have almost certainly evolved since then. Please keep that in mind while reading, commenting, or sharing.

You see, the funny thing about other people is that they’re human.

Everyone messes up. Everyone has faults; everyone makes mistakes. And when they do, they often inadvertently end up causing someone else grief. It will be you at some point in your life. It may be you often in your life, if that way land the dice.

We get frustrated with the things other people do. We look at them and say “Oh my God, why can’t you just X?” or “Jeez, why do you Y?” But how many times have you been on the other side? How many times have you used the defense, in your own head or out loud, that you’re only human, or something to that extent? The fact of the matter is that sometimes people mess up. Continue reading →