tfl: The Flatiron Life

Last weekend we went to St. Louis to visit some family. On the way down I was driving normally, 80 mph. A Livingston Police Officer did not like that and pulled me over. Jos says I should have tried to get out of it, but I just told him I knew I was speeding and that I was going 80 mph. This resulted in my first speeding ticket. I scanned in the ticket, and as you can see I had to surrender my Driver’s license as my bond. This is a great way of ensuring people pay their fines promptly. I paid mine on Monday as soon as I could. I would really like to have my driver’s license back.

Back again with a podcast and website I am into.

Ask A Ninja

Ask A Ninja is one of the greatest podcasts out there. It was the first non-technical podcast I subscribed to. The premise is simple and straightforward. Fans send in a question to the Ninja. The Ninja answers the question. Hilarity ensues.

Past questions have been gems like “Are there ninja midgets?” “How do you kill a ninja?” and “What is the ideal gift to get a ninja?” As you can see, this is very serious stuff. There is not a regular release cycle, presumably because the ninja is busy killing people. However there is a new one every week to 10 days. Check it out, and I look forward to having the ninja kill you soon.

Remember the Milk

Ryan has wanted the holy grail of task management for as long as I have known him. A software engineer wanting software is one of the toughest bits of pain out there. You should be able to write it, but usually you just don’t have the time. Thankfully for Ryan a solution that meets many of his needs has come along, Remember the Milk (rmilk).

Rmilk allows you to create lists of tasks. Tasks can have due dates and times or be open ended. They can also be repeatable and have priorities assigned. There is auto notification through email and IM of due tasks. Although I have not tried it there is also sharing capability.

I use rmilk to manage what I need to get done for work, home, and on the website. I am also keeping a list of topics I want to read up on. Some of the single tasks in my main list might need more detail so they have their own list of tasks. I have to manage this manually because there is no hierarchy of tasks or dependencies. I could call this a shortcoming, but the simplicity might be what really makes rmilk possible.

I want to encourage everyone to just check out Remember the Milk. It is hard to explain how it might help you out. I did not get it for a couple months when Ryan was tell me to try it out. Finally I did and then a couple weeks later it clicked for me. Now I am become a keyboard shortcut champion. Also don’t be discouraged by the long URL, you can use rmilk.com and be redirected.

Saturday, we visited Corey and Sarah Wilson, good friends from NVHS. Usually when Falcons get together there is a rapid exchange of classmate gossip. During this exchange I asked if Corey knew what Matt Ray was up to. He had no idea, but struck up a chorus of “Benjamin Carson Wayne Dreher.”

Yesterday, Matt Ray emailed me asking, “Are you the Jake Tomaw that went to NVHS and grew up in Vermillion Co IN?” Whoa! Indeed I am. He says the thought just popped in his head to wonder what I had been up to. So he just asked the Oracle of the Internet my name and tfl was handed down as the answer.

I want to encourage everyone to email me if you stubble upon my site. I enjoy knowing who is out there and what they are up to.

At German class last night, I learned that the Goethe Institut was no longer able to hold the monthly film club. There has recently been a rash of film clubs at universities and other educational centers being shutdown. The is a break of copyright to present the whole movie. There is a $350 license fee, but this is prohibitive for most, including Goethe. I understand the copyright holder needs to protect their work, but this is not doing that. I still want to watch movies in German and so do many of my fellow students. Thanks to Netflix we can set up our own viewing parties and cover the cost of renting with a buck or two per person. What I don’t know is if that would also be illegal. Is there a limit to the number of people who can watch a rented movie? Is the problem only if the public is invited?

Jos and I are buying our first home. We don’t have picture of the inside yet, but I have this set of pictures from outside.

A friend of mine recently forwarded an email about boycotting a couple brands of gasoline as a way of lowering gas prices. This struck me as a horrible idea. The idea is a large population agrees to stop buying gas from Station A owned by Evil Oil Company and only from Stations B, C, and D owned by Lesser Of Two Evils Oil Company. The email says this will cause Station A to lower their prices. This might happen, but you have agreed to punish station A by not buying from them, ever. Now B, C, and D have higher demand. Simple Supply and Demand requires that when supply is fixed price follow demand. So demand rises and pushes prices up.

Also, gas is gas is gas. Evil Oil Company sells gas to every station. If they are not selling it at A, they will sell it at B, C, D. No matter how much their marketing departments may try to convince you otherwise. Gas is fungible; you car does not really care which gallon of gas it is burning.

I did a quick google and found this article on the email from Snopes.com.

The Law of Supply and Demand requires that either supply must rise or demand fall for prices to fall. You have a few options:
1) Invest in Oil Companies and Refineries.
2) Ask your representatives to support the deregulation of refineries and oil exploration.
3) Ask refiners to buy your property and build a refinery on it.
4) Drive Less

Jos and I spent a great long weekend, Thursday thru Sunday, in South Beach, Miami Beach , Florida visiting our friend Bailey. We had a great time, but a bit too much sun. We went to the beach Friday and it was a perfectly clear day. The sun was beating down on us, but we were sure to lather up with sun block a couple times. Apparently not enough sun block! Both of us burned pretty nicely, but Jos was much worse. She is still recovering and is rather swollen. Despite the burning we had a fun time. I will be uploading some pictures later this week.

Update: The pictures from Miami have been uploaded to flickr! I think they look great, but I still need to tag them.

Update 2: I have added pictures of the aftermath of being in Miami. Jos’ head was swollen for a few days. She is better now, but these pics are still fun to look at. I promise it was the sun, no matter how it looks like I treat her.