Breaking the ice on mobile payments

Somewhat ironically for CI's mobile payments expert, I'm pretty conservative, even bearish, about the technology.  P2P seems needlessly complicated, designed just to show off your fancy gadgets for your friends.  And point-of-sale purchases?  Are that many shops going to buy into an entirely new payment network?  I don't see smartphones, much less payment apps, becoming more ubiquitous than cash or plastic.  And aside from that skepticism, I'm naturally reluctant to link my own cards or accounts to a mobile device to actually start using any of the pilot programs.

So what would it take to get me to just try out mobile payments?  Yeah, $10 of free food sounds about right.

This guy better not cost us the NBA season

This guy:

Sons of Rock

In the immortal crooning of Neil Young, "Rock and roll will never die."  Yes, in one sense, the groups that have carried the torch may linger past their primes, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or U2.  The next generation has been disappointingly sparse, as I've noted in earlier attempts at reviews.  Friends of rock keep the tradition alive in the underground world, but there are bands that show that rock can still be at least somewhat mainstream.  One such group to check out: Rival Sons.

Motivator or Demotivator?

I came across this gem recently courtesy of CrossFitNYC:

I like it, made me smile.  And want to work out.  But my own reaction aside, what I couldn't figure out was if it really qualifies as a motivational poster, or demotivational.  Is it the genuine article, or another spoof with a more subversive message?

On the one hand, it's easy to take the sentiment at face value.  Get out there and train!  Whoo!  But there's the underlying implication nagging at the back of your mind that, no matter how much or how hard you train, you'll still end up in a situation like that poor zebra.  I still can't quite tell what to make of it.

The CrossFit difference, after just a month...

As of tomorrow, I'll have spent a month doing serious, regular CrossFit workouts.  It's part Tough Mudder training, part challenge, and part experiment.  My story won't ever be as dramatic as some.  But I have already hit some accomplishments I'm pretty proud of.

The Modern (Gentle)Man

For someone who doesn't buy into TV shows until they've proven to be worthwhile, I was uncharacteristically intrigued by How to Be a Gentleman.  Maybe it was partly a residual affection for Johnny Drama.  But mostly, I was drawn by the promise (well, possibility) of a new look at classic questions of what makes a man -- something I've pondered far before it became a fad with this television season.

Our Indoor Future

Today, events transpired to keep me in the office all day.  Apparently I missed quite a rainstorm.  But, upon reaching the bottom of the stairs of the 23rd St. subway stop, I looked up and was surprised to see a square of beautiful blue sky.

I'll leave it to someone much more talented, with much more money invested in their photographic equipment, to capture the image (just wish it was in color):

When You Gamble... And Lose

It's a dark era for online poker.  Its legality has been under fire for years.  And it turns out that the card-sharks-turned-entrepreneurs willing to circumvent the law and financial interdiction may not have been the most trustworthy of characters after all.  The Justice Department came out firing last week, branding Full Tilt Poker - by my reckoning, the best-known, most mainstream online poker site - a fun but still fraudulent Ponzi scheme.

Memories of Illyria

This last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing the Brown Box Theatre Project's rendition of Twelfth Night.  I don't have much to add to the already positive reviews; enjoyed the play immensely, laughed out loud, thought it was very well done -- acting (as far as I'm qualified to judge), costumes and sets, even the few instances of stage fighting.  Much more fun than reading Shakespeare for English class.

A Small Tribute

Ten years ago yesterday started as a typical fall day for me, early in my senior year of high school.  We first heard the news about the attacks on the World Trade Center in Mrs. Weissberg's English class, I think.  I remember it being confusing and shocking, but not quite scary.  It wasn't real at that point, not until we watched the towers come down in a plume of dust in NRHS' smokestack area.

Rumblings...

There I was at work, minding my own business, when I felt a wobbling in my desk chair.  I immediately dropped all of the important things I was doing to assess.  Seconds later, I felt the same, barely-perceptible shaking in... what?  My chair?  The floor?  My ass?

Shortly thereafter, coworkers, with the help of Twitter, confirmed that, yes, after apparently sleeping through seismic activity in two different hemispheres in my youth, I had experienced my first earthquake.

A truly sad compromise?

Let's hear it for our heroic congresspeople who have averted an apocalyptic federal default!  ...Ignoring for the moment that it was a crisis of their and their colleague's own making.  But now that the deal has been all but approved, all that's left is for the talking heads to determine who won and lost in this whole debacle.

I've come across an old saw that "a really good compromise is the one that leaves both sides equally dissatisfied" in a few different and eclectic contexts recently -- the NFL lockout, A Dance with Dragons.  So potentially, both sides should be and, indeed, are "find[ing] fault with [the] bill."  However, not all of those opinions are easy to reconcile with each other or the standard partisan storylines.

From the CI cutting room floor...

I've officially gotten the kibosh on a recent post intended for the CI blog.  It's disappointing to have a somewhat interesting topic (referencing an article in which I was quoted, no less) rejected because it has a small potential for controversy.  I sincerely think CI's loss to not have it published, and the debate has made clear the blog's lack of potential.

It was still a worthwhile mental exercise to look at the two contrasting data points and compose a few succinct reflections, though.  The only way to get the post published on the CI blog would have been to neuter it, replacing all the interesting bits of outside data with something vague like, "Other poll data indicates..."  In my mind, that would take away the whole point of the post and make it just unsolicited self-promotion.  I wouldn't want to put out a blog post in my name that just does that.

My work won't make it onto the CI blog this time, but to keep it from totally going to waste, I've surreptitiously posted a version right here:

Turning change into real money

That, times like 40

Coins are basically useless.  After a few unproductive minutes, I couldn't come up with stats on the breakdown of credit, debit and cash purchases.  But even that cash portion is mostly paper.  And don't get me started on the silly dollar coins.  Change is dead weight, until you find a reasonable way to cash them in in bulk.

With an impending move and pounds of currency, I figured it was time to do so.  I really should have taken a picture of my pile of cash, but didn't think of it.  So the left will have to do, with some imagination.  In that quantity, it was worth a thorough consideration of the hassle of counting and rolling coins versus the usurious rates charged by counting services.

The Striker's Mentality

The Beautiful Game.  Well, it might not live up to the appellation when the Terrible Tiggers take the field, but we do what we can.  And in my case, that involves little else than putting shots on goal.

In my other sports -- basketball, frisbee, etc. -- I've developed the skills to patiently work the (flat)ball for high-percentage scoring opportunities.  However, despite so many semi-hungover mornings watching the EPL, my soccer skills are still in their adolescent phase.  I'm generally good at watching my betters and synthesizing what I see for my own use.  That said, my best attribute as a soccer player is probably my willingness to simply send the ball toward the goal.

Long live rock and roll?

Supposedly, these are not good times for rock and roll.  Are there any bands that have made it big in recent years keeping up the tradition of the greats?  But, if the caliber of music is lower, then maybe it takes less of an expert to have an opinion.  So why not take a shot at a small music review?

I'm not nearly as attuned to the contemporary music scene as some, but I do like to keep my ears open for new stuff, and my tastes definitely lie in the rock genre.  I'm not sure why I first took a look at My Morning Jacket, but after checking them out, this is probably my favorite song of theirs:

Philosopher-Athlete... Champion

What a great end to the NBA season.  I haven't been too enamored with the Dallas Mavericks in a few years.  But after the untimely demise of the Knicks' postseason, it was a pretty easy bandwagon to get on once they met the Heat.  And Dirk, Jet, and Marion and Co. really came through.

Wrong and fired up about it...

Well.  Thankfully that last post turned out to be premature.  I stand by most of those thoughts - maybe it wasn't so much a "a near-miraculous convergence of events" as it was just a gutsy (and lucky) game and a half of soccer.  But getting that out helped me cope with a couple of intense games.  Still, I absolutely can't let that post sit as my last word on the end of this season.

End of the road for Wigan?

The season and Wigan Athletic's chances of avoiding "the drop" aren't mathematically settled.  But watching Tottenham-Liverpool, I caught the Anfield loudspeakers announcing an 0-2 halftime deficit to West Ham?!  It would take a near-miraculous convergence of events to keep them in the top flight.  And if they can't beat the bottom team in the league - at the DW Stadium - do they deserve to stay up?

Without putting myself through the unpleasantness of confirming, I still figured it was time for a eulogy for Wigan's Premiership run, and perhaps my Wigan fanship?

Zombies & Us

Thoughts?  Mine below...

The MediumBrow Weight Loss Method

I'm fortunate enough that I don't need to worry too much about keeping off unwanted pounds.  I do try to keep some simple principles in mind (e.g., limit sweets and avoid idle snacking).  That said, it doesn't mean I can't devote a little brain power (hmm...) to the more serious weight problems a lot of people deal with.  And I nailed AP Bio back in the day, good times.  Yes, I think that's expertise enough for a blog post.

With those qualifications in mind, I just may have come up with a few different, possibly revolutionary ways to burn calories that actually involve little physical effort.  Intrigued?  Read on.

The Viking Look

I realize that my facial hair is not and likely will never be particularly impressive.  If I neglect shaving for more than a week, I definitely develop more than stubble, but it's still too transparent to call it a real beard; I'm skeptical it would get much better (denser, really) in more time.  And any less itchy.  At it's best, the most I'd say for it is that it's noticeable.

However, the feedback I've gotten when I've grown the "beard" out its longest has actually been pretty positive, from a few interesting and perhaps unexpected sources.  So it's worth messing around with, at the very least for purposes of conversation.  On that note, with a nod to the Johnson ancestors this time, I've dubbed it the "Viking look."

A few thoughts on God & family

Our knowledge of our Donovan ancestors is limited, an ever-growing number of generations in the past, but there's a lot to be proud of.  Our corner of the family had a bittersweet weekend, but one that I think brought us closer together, even if we're no longer united under the same coat of arms:

Can the ignorant be disenfranchised if they don't know what the word means?

A somewhat controversial opinion piece made the rounds of my contacts' Gchat statuses today.  Better known to me as a sometimes-interesting commentator on sports and surrounding issues, LZ Granderson took to his new CNN platform to argue that the ignorant should not be able to vote.  Response among my friends seemed generally positive.  I'm less comfortable with the idea.

Learning to Valse

Treating my trumpet playing as a very casual hobby these days, I'll often play through The Real Book as my not-quite daily practice (that or Arban's, but that's an entirely different topic (Opera!?)).  For the most part, I can occupy myself with retread high school jazz band charts and well-known standards until my chops give out.  However, from time to time, a previously unknown tune will catch my eye, with an entertaining title or intriguing first few bars.

Re-reading Hayek... OK, reading for the first time...

Missed connection: Cambridge, MA, April 2004.  You were an elderly European gentleman with glasses, a nice moustache, an intellectual air and the hint of a haunted past back in the old country.  I was a Harvard undergrad, still finding my bearings on campus and in the world.  Some mutally-acquainted faculty tried to arrange a meeting, but I spaced...

Carbonara Chronicles

The basic idea of this post is simply to share a recipe that I can say from experience (now with third-party confirmation) is easy to learn but rewarding to cook and eat.  However, looking below, it's grown a bit with extraneous ramblings.  Just so you're prepared.

Netflix Post-Mortem

My eight-month endeavor has come to an end.  Since the end of July, I've been, really, working hard to catch up on movies -- the great ones that I really should see, blockbusters I happened to miss, and other just plain good movies I'd probably enjoy.  For the last few weeks, as the main and instant queues tapered off, I realized that I was where I'd wanted to get, finished those last few, and called it quits.

ESPN Sucks

Tonight's big losers, other than the Heat: Michael Wilbon, Jon Barry, Bruce Bowen.

The Funniest 4 Seconds on YouTube

Why do I find this so inexhaustibly funny?  What makes any joke funny?  What can we derive about humor from this example?

I promise this is not a Knicks blog...

...but post #1 has to be about Carmelo.