Hiatus

For my few loyal readers, I am going on a planned hiatus from this blog. I have quite a bit going on in my life at the moment, and maintaining a blog is indeed something I can do without. The blog as an archive will still exist. Before I go, I have a few observations that could be their own blog posts, but I'll touch on them briefly.

A lot of responsibilities and priorities have entered my life, and it's fascinating how much time you actually have if you maintain a schedule. I used to tend to focus on a single task or project, and not do anything else until complete. This had a tendency to burn me out and not be as efficient as I should be. Now I still watch due dates, so something due the next day will grab my entire attention; however, the urgency of getting it done on time reduces the chances of me procrastinating.

I think it's too easy to simply tell someone to have more discipline. The trick is to find a strategy to create more discipline. I wish I could simply have the will to make all of my dreams become reality, but many of my dreams are very big and would take a lot of time, resources, and man power to accomplish. There is no way I could focus on such a task or tasks and ignore everything else. This may not be a grand revelation to some, but working on one of my bigger goals -for say an hour- and then accomplishing one of my smaller goals helps give me a relief and satisfaction of accomplishment.

Now I don't have anything very formal planned like a day planner or anything. I just keep a mental list of tasks that need accomplishing and devote certain nights as a focus to a larger task. For example, Monday night may be for my classes and Tuesday night for family. Also pay note that I treat leisure as a task. This was another trick that I developed. Now I don't feel guilty if I have other tasks to accomplish because I know I have designated time for those other tasks. Of course, time seems to fly when I'm having fun, but I digress.

A special note for those transitioning from active duty military service

Today also signifies the completion of my 8 year service obligation to the military. I served a little over 7 years of active duty and the rest on the inactive ready reserve (IRR). While I had some issues with the military, it was overall a very positive experience for me. It helped shape me become the man that I am today. Ultimately, I left the service because I had goals outside of the military I wanted to accomplish, and quite frankly, I wasn't sure how much longer my body could handle the physical stress. Taking that into consideration, leaving the military was a very difficult choice. Despite any issues, I knew the Army would always take care of me.

The Army has a whole transition program which may be a little bloated, but I may only think that because I may have more life experience than a lot of soldiers - particularly the ones who never went to college. I also had a plan when I got out whereas some are just anxious to get out, so that they don't have to wake up for morning formation. Regardless, it's amazing to me how much all of my plans failed when I got out. I had two jobs lined up, and both of them didn't pan out. I still had a house, but my revenue stream wouldn't last me for very long.

The Power of Online Search Tools

Confirming my political beliefs, don't ever rely on government programs. While I did inevitably get my unemployment benefits, I never received them until just before I started my job.

The Army was very big on promoting networking sites like LinkedIn, but sites like ZipRecruiter did a much better job in finding me employment. I never really gave these search sites much credit until I left the service. In about a month, I found a job that I have been very happy with. To my brothers and sisters transitioning out of the military, I highly recommend uploading your resume (which hopefully you made in ACAP) to one of these sites.

One last note: Expand your mind 
 

I still enjoy listening to various podcasts. Always learning and listening to our modern philosophers. Ever since I completed those blog posts about the filibuster for my class, the purpose of this blog has been about me writing down the various thoughts that engrossed me over the years. I've cited various podcasts throughout my articles, and it's amazing to me how much this medium has expanded my world view. My faith has been tested so many times, and somehow it perseveres. One thing that I have learned over the years: never deny the possibility of the impossibility.

No Agenda

Back when I was in Natick, one of my friends over there got me interested in the TWiT (This Week in Tech) podcast. As I started working out more, I got bored listening to nothing but music for over an hour, so I revived my interest in this podcast. I loved the idea of learning and working out at the same time.

As much as I loved learn about technology and tech news, I did get bored of listening to the podcast after a couple weeks - except for when a certain John C. Dvorak was on the podcast. His cynicism and sense of humor always grabbed my attention. I wanted to listen to another podcast, so I checked out another podcast that he would occasionally plug, the No Agenda Show. For a time, I was listening to both programs, but I eventually dropped TWiT entirely and was exclusive to No Agenda.

TWiT was definitely a technology news podcast, but No Agenda is entirely different. While it deals in tech news, it's better described as a media deconstruction podcast. Similar to how the Daily Show as back in 2004 (when it was at it's prime), the show is at it's best when it takes a news story in the media and deconstructs it showing how made up a lot of it is. The podcast also tackles issues such as native advertising and how advertising influences the news. The hosts, John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry (the Podfather), also do a great job at inserting humor with ridiculous jingles, sound clips (called iso's), and poking fun at conspiracy theories. Also their life experiences are also really fascinating since they've both been involved with mainstream media. John C Dvorak has been a tech consultant for multiple news outlets and Adam Curry was a major MTV DJ. Aside from that they are also pioneers in technology; Adam Curry being the inventor of the podcast.

Cover art from one of their episodes. Gives a sense of the humor of the show.

The show is unique in that it is funded entirely by listener donations dubbed the value-for-value model which allows them complete freedom to say whatever they want without having to worry about repercussions from advertisers - an issue they harp on every episode. The hosts are not afraid to tackle a controversial topic or even to point out someone's BS whether they are well respected or not.

As they deconstruct the news, they provide an analysis that is truly inspiring. I now get most of my news from twitter and then wait for their analysis every Thursday and Sunday. I can't really point out what bias if any that they have except for the instinct that they are generally skeptical of anything the media puts out. Dvorak says that he's an independent, and Curry has said in the past that he's supported Ron Paul which probably makes him more of a libertarian than a republican. Regardless, it's really hard to pinpoint what their biases are because they rarely put out their political opinions. They are not afraid to call BS, but usually their opinions on the show are limited to wine, food, and other benign things. 

I can't recommend this podcast enough. Check it out at www.noagendashow.com or download it on iTunes which is how I listen to it. They usually run about three hours which is perfect for cardio days at the gym or long car rides. I'm sure you'll get addicted to it as I have. It truly is the best podcast in the universe.