A year is a long time. It’s around three hundred sixty-five days on our Gregorian calendar. By my unscientific estimate, most people forget their new year’s resolution a few months into the new year. Wouldn’t that time be better spent spacing out several small-scale resolutions - temporary efforts that add up to much more than the sum of their parts?
I think so. At least, it’s worth a shot.
I resolve to make a distinct effort to better myself each month of this year. Rather than resolving one change in my behavior and life for the entire year, I’ll break it up into twelve pieces. I’ll do my best to carry out that resolution for the entire month and perhaps take it further. One resolution may be painfully serious, and the next one seemingly insignificant. But, twelve small things are better than one incomplete thing, right?
Last year, my problem was that I resolved to do too many things. To add to the problem, those things were basically immeasurable. This year, I’ll be doing lots of things, but only one at a time. It certainly sounds like a fun experiment.
You should probably join me. It can’t hurt. If you’d like to join me, post your January resolution in the comments.
I have an interview with an MIT alumnus on January 9th.
Advice? I’m talking personal advice, not anything that I could get from Google. But really, I’d be grateful for anything, really.
Write a note to yourself,
you’ll be glad that you did.
It’s a reminder of the past,
a piece of your thoughts frozen in time,
unaltered by fickle emotions.
It can be a diary, journal, or post-it.
Not a blog, never a blog,
for the public eye foils honesty.
Write one from yourself, to yourself, by yourself.
Stash it away, and be sure to read it later.
I wrote that poem, A Note to Yourself, for a school literary magazine earlier this year. I rarely write poetry, but I felt (and feel) passionate about this topic.
I usually post important details about my life here on Exposay. The crux of this post, however, happened before Exposay even existed. Last year, starting January 1, along with my new year’s resolutions, I instituted a secret policy. I started keeping something resembling a journal. Using the application MacJournal, I wrote myself a note every day for the last 365 days. In a journal, analogous to a file folder, I created twelve journals corresponding to the twelve months of the year. In each of those journals, I wrote between 28 to 31 entries, corresponding to the days of the month.
I use Christmas Break as a reflection period of the previous year. Keeping with that theme, and listening to the advice in my poem, I read my entries for the last year. My first entry was simple enough… Continue reading ‘A Note to Yourself’
Last year, before I started this blog, I was an avid Facebook-noter. To clarify, Facebook has a feature called “notes,” which resemble blog posts. On December 31, 2006, while I was feeling motivate, I posted this:
I don’t know what it is, but I’ve felt really good recently, overall. I want to keep the feeling going and have the best year possible, so I’m going to try to stick to a few ‘rules’ (resolutions)…
1. Reduce conflict, be more affable. Just be a better person, socially, and in every way possible.
2. Don’t overreact or under-react to things that happen. As I’ve learned, these things can control you.
3. Get Things Done.
4. Don’t get taken advantage of by anyone.
5. Go after things, get ‘em.
6. Have a little more fun.
7. Eat better.
8. Make backups.
Why am I putting these ‘rules’ on Facebook? Well, now I have a reason to hold myself to them.
Have a great year everyone! 
Seriously, make it great. Stay safe. Stay happy. Don’t change, unless it’s for the better.
I had some lofty goals, didn’t I? Let’s see how I did. Continue reading ‘2007 Resolutions in Review’
This fix has been proven temporary. Many users have used it and had a working drive. After reboots, however, the drive firmware is corrupted again. Only try this method as a last resort.
A more detailed post on this issue is coming soon.
A little backstory… Many months ago, Apple released a software update titled “SuperDrive Update 2.1″ for MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. Unfortunately, the update was flawed. It bricked many drives, and severely limited the function of others. Here’s a quick article on the matter:
Following close on the heels of our recent report that Apple’s SuperDrive Firmware Update 2.1 for MacBook and MacBook Pro is causing widespread failure of optical drives (as witness, for example, the plethora of reports on Apple’s own discussion boards), Apple has apparently pulled the update from circulation. The previous information URL … now leads nowhere. Neither does the download link.
My drive was damaged in that it no longer would recognize CD-R media (blank CDs). Back in July, I sent my MacBook Pro to Apple for a SuperDrive replacement, and they sent it back with a new installation of Tiger. Although I was outraged, that fixed my problem for a few months - until I installed Mac OS X Leopard. Again, my drive would not recognize cd-r media, and would report voltage errors in disk utility.
Again, Apple has shown us the company that they are. They refuse to officially acknowledge the issue to spite the outcry of thousands of users whose computers have been damaged.
Luckily, a very talented hacker (in a good sense) has released a tool to fix the problem. In this thread on Apple’s discussion boards, someone re-posted the fix. In hopes of spreading the remedy, I’m reposting it here. Continue reading ‘Possible MacBook Pro SuperDrive 2.1 Fix’
In July of 2000, Apple released the Power Mac G4 Cube, a powerful work of art. Originally running Mac OS 9, it held up well with iterations of OS X. In October of 2007, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Although one was created seven years after the other, I believe they were meant to be together. This weekend, I spent upwards of ten hours trying to get Leopard to run on a G4 Cube.
Continue reading ‘Mac OS X Leopard on a Power Mac G4 Cube’
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