For the first time in my life I’m about to witness something I thought I’d never see in two hundred years (or rather my life time): The US government (albeit through their own stupidity) is going to implement automatic spending cuts to help curb the deficit (the latter which has now surpassed $15 trillion).

I know some of my progressive and conservative friends see the idea of a drastic cut across the board as evil, but honestly when are we going to start tackling our deficit? I’m tired of the future looking gloomy because one side wants to tax everyone to death while the other wants to lighten everyone’s load with no one doing anything about the debt-o-pocolypse that threatens the future of everyone.

While the automatic cuts are not a permanent solution, it’s a start in my book.

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So I finished reading the biography of Steve Jobs yesterday, and I’m trying to process a book that highlighted the good, bad and awesome of America’s third greatest CEO (note: I’m biased, but I consider Elon Musk of SpaceX and Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace to better. And yes, I am a space geek! ).

Before I proceed I’ll let you know that there are spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t read Steve Jobs biography (and you must if you desire to own your own business in the future) then stop reading right now.

And if you’ve read the book, you’ll understand why I titled this post as it is (and no I will not explain it as I want you to read the book).

Simple is better

Steve Jobs had an uncanny ability to not only find out what people needed before they knew they needed something, but also reduced what ever tech he was creating down to its very essence.

I was surprised by the fact that he thought about the iPad before he envisioned the iPhone, and how he considered creating a music iCloud app for Android, but decided against as he didn’t want to make them happy.

I also loved the fact that he wasn’t extremely vain with his wealth, choosing instead to live in a simply elegant home rather than a supersized extravagant mansion.

iFail

If there was one area of his life I found to be truly appalling, it would be how he treated his oldest daughter.

Ignoring the fact that he didn’t even want to pay child support (even after DNA testing proved that the girl was his), he pretty much ignored her for the first decade of her existence. When he did acknowledge her, she was not exactly given the respect that she deserved.

I did find the fact that he threw tantrums to be hilarious, and while some of my friends viewed Steve Jobs as a manipulative liar (due to his “distortion field”), he seemed to only “play the opposition” when negotiating deals (although to Steve’s credit he was much more truthful, even if he was a little blunt).

Full of Awesome?

If you ignore Steve Jobs personal life and his love of cussing random strangers out (like that ice cream lady), Steve Jobs was a great man who changed the world for the better and saved the music industry from extinction.

While some things about him were perplexing (like the fact he declined to have surgery when he first discovered he had cancer), I can honestly say that the world would be a much duller place if he had never existed.

Although he will never win any awards for World’s Greatest Dad (note: his wife however should win the award for World’s Greatest Mother), he will go down in history as one of the greatest CEO of the 21st Century, with only Elon Musk and Robert Bigelow eclipsing him (as the 2 latter individuals are trying to expand humankind upon other worlds).

Translation: Superhero it is!

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And I do not remember a time previously when I was extremely excited about reading a biography (or even autobiography) of an individual.

The last biography (or was it an autobiography?) I read dealt with Ariel Sharon, although I read portions of it in the library.

I purchased “Steve Jobs” from iBooks (how fitting), and despite the expense ($17?!) I’m going to pour over this treasure trove of info in order to gain a greater understanding of the greatest business man the world has ever known (at least within the geekoverse).

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Yesterday I saw The Elephant Man for the first time at The Warehouse Theatre (note: see disclosure at the bottom) which is based on the semi-tragic life of Joseph Merrick (who is incorrectly called John Merrick thanks in part to his doctor). Joseph (who is frequently called John or “Johnny” throughout the play) suffered from Proteus syndrome and Neurofibromatosis which caused massive deformities on the right side of his body.

Unlike the Metamorphosis skit (which I enjoyed mostly for its humor and technical achievements), The Elephant Man is an emotional drama which strums your heart strings like a guitar as you watch Merrick endure injustice and ridicule throughout the earlier years of his life, then later on experience fame and respect from the British élite during the latter years of his life.

What set The Warehouse Theatre’s portrayal of Merrick from the movie (which I think a few of my friends have seen) was that they did not use any special makeup or prosthetics to portray Merrick which made it harder to view the character as a freak of nature (even though images of him were displayed on a large screen).

Ironically the lack of prosthetics and makeup did help “humanize” Merrick, which helps you see him as he truly is: an intelligent being who was not only curious about the world around him but also a deep thinker (I dare say philosopher as well).

The acting and scenes were top of the class (as expected), although the scene depicting Merrick’s death (or rather before it) was…weird (as those two giggly girls ruined the moment in my honest opinion).

Overall this was another excellent skit by The Warehouse Theatre, although hopefully next time they will allow us to take pictures and short videos (say 15-30 seconds) during the drama (as it’s hard to describe a two hour drama with nothing but text).

Disclosure: The Warehouse Theatre provided free seasonal tickets in exchange to hear my views about the skit (the good, bad and awesome). Aside from that the opinions expressed here are my own, and in my honest opinion The Elephant Man is worth seeing in person.

Image Credit: British Medical Journal

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Since buying toe socks isn’t my style, I’ve been trying to find an alternative to washing my 5 finger shoes every 2-3 days (as I’m running out of reasons to wash clothes…pun not intended).

After googling the interwebs, I came across this tip by Get The Funk Out:

Efferdent Tablets This product is normally used to cut through bacteria within dentures, but doubles as a deodorant for Vibram FiveFingers. The Vibram website recommends using this product to eliminate tough odors that develop within the FiveFingers. Place Vibrams within a large tupperware container, fill with water and add 1-2 tablets. Allow 1-2 hours to pass before removing the Vibrams to air dry.

You can pick this up at your local Walmart, although you might want to explain why you’re buying it to the cashier and spectators lest you receive awkward glances.

Update (10/3): Reduced image size. Thanks for the tip Bradley!

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After much pondering and thought I’ve decided that the new Facebook (specifically timeline and ticker features) is not for me.

I’m tired of fighting Facebook over the privacy issues, and instead of relearning them for the 7th time I’m simply going to defriend everyone but family. I barely use the service outside of messages (which I’ll allow for anyone to contact me via Facebook or darnellclayton@facebook.com) and loathe how the service is now being used by third party sites to “report” on my activities beyond the blue and white walls.

For those wondering I’ll be on Google+ (visit my profile at http://darnell.co/+ which will redirect towards my profile) and enough of my friends are active on it now to make it worth while for me.

Anyways thanks for the memories Facebook! While I think the changes are impressive and breath taking, I don’t feel like have my personal life/quotes mined by companies and frenemies without an easy way to privatize the settings.

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So after running/walking in my 5 finger shoes for the past couple of weeks and stumbling upon WW2 fitness test, I’ve finally come up with a workout schedule that will:

• Test my physical limits
• Help me catch up to my workout-holic brother
• Build up endurance/strength minus weights

I’ve also decided that I’ll train with my camelbak as since I drink water like a fish (yeah, I’m a waterholic).

I’m going to exercise 6 days a week, and for accountability use FitFu & Runkeeper (which appeals to the geek in me).

• Sundays: I’m going to run 4-5 km, as well as do pullups (with the end goal of accomplishing a minimum of 20 consecutive pullups).
• Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Will be pushups (4 sets of 125 consecutive reps) and bicycle crunches (2 sets of 250 reps).
• Tuesdays and Thursdays: Dips (10 sets of 50 consecutive reps) and Jack Knives (500 consecutive reps).

I’ll take Saturdays off to rest my body, lest I wear myself out completely.

Update: Fixed funky code do to USER ERROR: ID10+

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