Jeremy Hageman
…fun on the web

Goodbye. Well not really.

It’s hard to believe the end is actually here. Looking back here is what I think: It has been both a challenge, and a lot of fun playing this little blogging game together. I know I learned a lot about blogging, and about my fellow bloggers. I also developed a much greater appreciation for the one-man blogs I had been reading which consistently produced 4, 5, or even 6 posts a day. I often wished I had more time to create greater posts during the challenge. Actually, I just wish I could say I posted every single day, as I skipped a day or two. Yet, looking back I am able to see some growth. Having and audience to create for causes you to see the world in a different way–taking note of experiences throughout a seemingly normal day. Stored away until you have a moment to turn them into a story.

I want to congratulate everyone who participated. Even those who just posted sporadically. I also want to say goodbye to the challenge…but not to the bloggers. In fact, I feel the end of this challenge only marks the very beginning of the exchanges I hope to have with you all in the blogging world. Even us first time bloggers are walking away with a health blog roll.

Also, if you are looking for an easy way to track some of us bloggers, and don’t already have a Google Reader account, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a great way to subscribe and make sure you never miss a post from your blog roll again. And if you’re looking to host and customize your own blog, but aren’t sure how just drop me a line and I can help you get set up.

And lastly, thank you everyone for participating!

Baked Beans + Frog

(a la Megan Jonas)

The Invention of Lying

What if there was no such thing as lying?  Meaning we lived in a world where the concept never even existed. Then what if you happened to be the first person to stumble upon the concept? What sort of things could you get away with in such a world? That is the premise for the upcoming movie The Invention of Lying. Besides having a clever premise, it also has a pretty stellar cast with the likes of Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Christopher Guest, and of course Ricky Gervais.

The Invention of Lying – Trailer

4 X 4

4 Jobs I’ve Had

1. Fry boy at McDonald’s. My very first job at the ripe age of 16. Even though I came home every day smelling like a bucket full of grease soaked fries, I learned a lot about work ethic and the importance of a job well done. The first week I was reprimanded for standing around during slow periods. I had no idea that this was a bad thing. It was slow and there were no customers. My manager quickly got me up to speed saying, “This must be your first job. Don’t ever just stand around. Grab a rag and wipe something.”
2. Teller at Wells Fargo. This was a nice kush summer job–working indoors counting other people’s money. All was going well, and I was sure I was heading my way up to being branch manager, until our bank was robbed. It was a full shake-down with guns and disguises. We ended up being locked in the vault upon our assailant’s escape. I started looking for new jobs shortly after.
3. Computer Specialist at Best Buy. As a computer specialist my job was to answer customer’s questions such as, “What is RAM?”, “Do all your computers come with an electric, retractable cup holder in the front?”, and “I’ve plugged my power supply into itself, why isn’t it generating power?” Like it or not, I acquired super-strength patience and the ability to explain anything in simple terms. Also, during my career there I must have purchased 8 car stereos with my employee discount for all my friends who discovered it.
4. Web Designer at America West Vacations. The best part of this job was the travel benefits–free flights on stand-by to anywhere they flew. During my 18 months there I traveled to San Francisco, Reno, Chicago, New York, Cabo, New Orleans, San Diego, Flagstaff and Vegas a handful of times. Since the flights were free, co-workers and I sometimes flew to San Diego or Vegas just for lunch.

4 TV Shows I’m Watching

1. Breaking Bad
2. Eastbound & Down
3. Whitest Kids U’Know
4. Summer Heights High

4 Places I’ve Been

1. Mykonos, Greece 2009

2. Barcelona, Spain 2009

3. San Fran

4. New Orleans 2004

4 Music Artists I’m Listening To

1. Black Moth Super Ranbow
2. White Denim
3. The Dodos
4. Micachu

Create Your Own Last FM Word Visualization

1. Go here and plug in your Last.fm username.
2. Select and copy  the text
3. Paste your words into the wordle site
4. Play with the fonts and colors
5. Take a screenshot

MJ

My Eulogy – I remember being scared after seeing the Thriller video for the first time in second grade. I also have memories from a few years later selling greeting cards and gift wrap door-to-door in my neighborhood to earn enough Sunshine Sales Club point to get the Thriller record. From a once shy kid hocking greeting cards in the AZ summer, MJ definitely had a defining place in my childhood.

On a related side note, I admit I ended up believing Jeff Goldblum had also died for about three seconds today. Thanks Twitter.

The Last 5 & Theme Days

I both can and I can’t believe there are only 5 days of blogging left. At times it has been harder than I would have imagined to eek out a post at 11:45pm. Other days I was all but eager to share my wealth of YouTube goodies. I think the hard days were only hard because I wanted to always post something entertaining or meaningful, and not just something to just get my card stamped for the day. (Though I did have my useless post days. Sorry.)

I know that I’m not the only one who’s found The Challenge challenging. Especially in these last days. So in order to give everyone some extra inspiration I think some more theme days are in order:

• Sunday 6/28 -4×4 Meme: Fill out a self-questionnaire by listing  4 Jobs I’ve Had, 4 TV Shows I’m Watching, 4 Places I’ve Been, and 4 Music Artists I’m Listening to Right Now. (Here are a few examples of this done well)
• Monday 6/29 – Honor someone else’s blog style. You pick your favorite blogger from the challenge and emulate they’re blogging style. Draw a cartoon, take a series of photos, share your advice on saving money, write a story about your children (whether you have any or not), or write a rant.
• Tuesday 6/30 – Goodbye theme.

To all you cat photographers…

So there’s over 3 billion photos on Flickr, the 5,446,638 photos of cats are still too many.

via

Nerdrage

Nerdrage

The best years

In order to avoid being tagged with the reputation of someone who surfs YouTube all day, I figured I should get around to writing a serious post. But not so serious as to ruin the mindless, lighthearted world I’ve created at my blog. Lets take a detour.

A thought that often rolls around in my head is one that I began while reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. For those who haven’t read it, Ferriss’ goal in the book is to get the reader to take a step back and rethink the basic timeline of life. The timeline of living one’s lifespan by the common pattern of slave -> save -> retire. In your young years you bust your hump to get as far up the career latter you can. All the while socking as much cash away for those gray-haired days. And finally after years of a deferred living you can finally enjoying the fruits of your labor in retirement.

Of course Ferriss isn’t downing hard work or savings accounts.  The main argument he’s making is that “retirement as a goal or final redemption is flawed” for a handful of solid reasons. The reason that has been haunting me lately is the idea that the popular way of living is based upon “the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life.”

This idea sometimes worries me. I often imagine that I’m wasting away the “most physically capable years” of my life sitting behind a desk doing someone else’s bidding. Maybe it’s because change often feel like it moves so slow, while life travels full speed ahead?

On the other side of the coin though, this view has been good to me in that it has made me more passionate. I derive much of my motivation to achieve goals from the idea that life is to be lived now. In the end, I just don’t want regret.