The site was becoming too spammy for my taste, and was turning into gossip central.

I actually thought about deleting my account…

So instead I’ll no longer use it and cast it aside like I did MySpace earlier.

I’m now using About Me as my central hub for everything, which you can check out at about.me/Darnell (note: it’s still in Alpha mode).

For those wondering where I’ll post entries to my private life, you can subscribe to @DarnellClayton or visit flic.kr/DarnellClayton for photos & short videos (most which will be private).

Note: Unlike last time, many of my friends have deleted their accounts or have stopped using the service, so saying goodbye to Facebook is now much easier.

–Posted from my iPhone

Oh well, the deed is done I guess. The only thing left is to tame the fro (or shave it off).

And get some sleep as it’s past 1AM already.

I know my friends (plus the kids at church) will probably freak out about this.

Fortunately they’ll find out Sunday since very few of them read my blog.

Unless Jerry, Josh or David stop by of course.

Hmmmmmmm indeed.

–Posted from my iPhone

Yeah, if you recognize that title, then you must have grown up with Dr. Seuss! (I was a fan ever since I could pronounce sentences together)

Out of all of the books that he wrote, my favorite thus far has been “Oh The Places You’ll Go!,” mainly due to its emphasis on exploring the unknown world around you (despite the bumps).

In fact, I just bought it from the app store right now, although for the uninitiated here is it via YouTube (thanks to some brazen user, although you should buy the book).

Anyways the  reason I am writing this is because too often in my life I’ve seen so many people give up their dreams and exploring the world around them due to past disappointments, finances or some immovable obstacle.

Too many people are merely satisfied with only living out their lives day by day instead of striving what is best for them, their family, their ________ (fill in the blank folks!).

It is my firm belief that every child born is assigned a destiny by the Almighty, and the passions within the heart are hints (or indicators) of what your destiny is.

You should never stop short of pursuing that, and should strive towards that goal everyday in every way you can.

While you’ll encounter disappointment along the way (we all do), you should view obstacles as lessons instead of barriers.

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite quotes:

“And if you keep your vision clear you will see the future. What happens in our future is our own responsibility.” ~Rem Saverem

So stop the pity party friends! The future has yet to be written, and regardless of what lies ahead you can succeed–if you really want it.

(Image and Video Credit: Dr. Seuss)

So earlier today I wrote a post upon The Blog Herald regarding VaultPress (a service by Automattic/WordPress that securely backs up your entire blog) that was at best speculative and at worst slanderous.

In his wisdom my Editor (that would be Franky) pulled the article offline, although unfortunately other sites have picked up my sloppy article which is currently tarnishing VaultPress’s good name.

I personally owe a lot to the folks at Automattic, whose software & services have turned blogging from what use to be a chore to an enjoyable experience.

In fact just today Isaac from Intense Debate (a service that is literally saving my skin from human spammers) went out of his way to create a fix for my micro blog so that I could continue to enjoy using the p2 Theme by Automattic.

Since it was my big mouth that created this whole farce, I’m going to be spending the rest of tonight contacting bloggers/journalist who republished my sad piece of journalism in order to clear VaultPress’s name.

If anyone runs across any reprints please email me a link at darnell.clayton@gmail.com so I can resolve my lapse of judgement. Thanks!

Note: Apologies to Matt, Paul and the entire Automattic crew.

I think the hardest part about choosing a path for your life is not when there is a lack of options, but rather when there is an abundance of them.

Things tend to become more complicated when everyone else seems to have plans for your life, with “awesome” advice to go alongside of predetermined goals (like where you should live, the job you should take, and who you should be friends with, etc.).

The frustrating part is that often my desires, goals and direction run contrary to what many of my friends and family expect, which will probably lead to some unwelcome tension in the future.

Next year will probably be full of surprises–some of which might be unpleasant (at least for some of my family and friends), although I’m confident I’ll survive unscathed.

Either way I have no regrets (at least for the most part) and I am looking forward to embracing 2010 in all of it’s glory, blood, sweat and tears.

 

I have to say that my love affair with iTunes–despite the fact that they helped introduce me to the iPhone–is quickly coming to an end.

I just discovered LaLa.com (ironically discovered through Tap Tap Revenge, an iPhone App) which basically allows me to listen to the full song before I purchase it (something Steve Jobs should have included).

They basically give users two options. You can either purchase a web version (which means you can listen to the song anytime online) for 10 cents, or download the entire song for 89 cents (compared to Apple’s 99 cents per song).

Albums are even cheaper, which means that the only thing I will be ordering from iTunes will be iPhone Apps (as I already get my shows from Amazon Unbox–sorry Apple).

It looks as if my mean Uncle may be giving me the necessary cash in order to purchase an iPhone later on this year.

(KlTV 7 News) Individuals earning 3,000 to 75,000 a year get a rebate of 300 to 600 dollars. For families making up to 150,000 annually, your rebate could be up to 1,200 dollars, plus an extra 300 for each child under 17. But how exactly will the rebates affect taxpayers like you?

Rebate checks are coming as early as May for millions of Americans.

Since you probably have to make at least $75,000 to get the $600, that probably excludes me from the full rebate (note: you can figure out how much you will probably get thanks to this handy dandy calculator).

Unless I can locate a decent smart phone in the next few months, my future phone choices will be: do I choose the 8gb model or the 16gb?

Note: For international readers who do not understand the joke, I am referring to my Uncle Sam.

…we are all going to be screwed.

The Democrats are promising me more taxes,
While a certain republican is promising me more wars.
If I had to choose between the two…
I’d relocate towards Singapore.

Sigh. I guess I’ll be pulling for Mitt Romney as a first choice, followed by Barack Obama.

If its Hillary and McCain as the party nominees, I might have to actually flip a coin.

So I was debating between purchasing a brand new LG Voyager or LG Venus–or switching away from Verizon in order to pick up a brand new iPhone (and signing my economic soul with AT&T…scary).

In the end it was not the fact that the iPhone had cover flow, or that Voyager has vibration feed back when you touch the screen, or even the customer service of either (Verizon is rivaled only by Apple, although AT&T brings them down a notch).

It was the apps baby!

Or more specifically, the programs I could add to customize the phone.

LG Voyager has 22 Apps of which I only found three to be really useful.

LG Venus has 27 Apps of which I found a pathetic two to be of any use to me.

Apple’s iPhone has a whopping 738 Apps (and counting), of which I found too many to ignore to be useful! (I’m still going through them!)

While I have the funds to purchase an iPhone (for $399), I don’t have the cash (right now) to both purchase an iPhone, cancel my account with Verizon ($175…ghetto!) and pick up a plan with AT&T (who’s customer disservice is unparalleled…at least it was many moons ago).

I’ve decided to pull one of my blogs out of the BlogBurst Network, due to the fact that content theft on several of my blogs is getting out of hand. Although this is a “sign of popularity,” I have decided to remove my space blog from its ranks before it became to popular.

Although this may hurt my blog in the short term, I feel like this will benefit me in the long run.

I may also decide to launch a mini-blog network to serve as a “home” for all of these blogs, as Google seems to be compensating me nicely for maintaining eloquent posts.