John's posterous

Piano Man

It's a funny irony that for the 29 years that i've played piano, that I've never. EVER learned Billy Joel's Pianoman. 

I get asked to play it all the time at parties. It's a ridiculously fun song to sing at bars, especially drunk. Singing with your friends in the 3/4 rocking back and forth whether or not you know the words is probably one of the best feelings in the world. A good drinking song.

Then again, what makes a good drinking song? Melancholy. Sense of longing for better days. Sorrow.

It then occurred to me. What is it about this song that makes it so tragic? 

The Piano Man is all about sadness in a bar. All the characters have a secret desire or a feeling of loss that they want to fill. Who do they ask? The piano man. The piano man seemingly has all the answers wrapped up in the black and ivory keys; all released from his fingers.

They all flock to him and sing along. Their voices enmass to to bolster each other and let them know that they're not alone and can be one voice for one moment ; drowning out any of their fears and cherishing good memories for one song. 

Then again, what of the musician? Is it because he's in tune with their emotions? Is it because he knows what it all feels like? 

I guess that's what I feel like sometimes. People turn to me to cheer them up, and as a people pleaser I didn't take the time to cheer myself up. Maybe it's my typeB personality. I'm not sure. 

How I feel now

And Sara thinks she's died here once before
She's crazy
A pop-up book of flowers from grade four
Are driving her insane
No-one knows why
She's sad tonight
No-one can help her find
Crying, she couldn't afford the view
Crying, these automatic flowers won't do
Another brick
Another window frames the confusion
Her garden blooms but Sara can't see straight
She's drinking herself blind

What I used to Feel

It’s in your eyes, a colour fade out
Looks like a new transition
Is starting up and shaking your ground
Turning your head to see a new day calling

Does it feel like a head to lean on?
A snapshot from where you were born
I’m looking for your hand in the rough
You’re caught in the wire
Well, I’ll lift you out

Leading on the action
Caught in a cell phones' rays
Bleeding on the sofa
Staring at the wayside
He’s coming and she knows it
Even though she knows why
Footsteps in the hallway
Girl you haven’t got time

Is it the beginning of the end or the end of a beginning?

It's been a tumultuous 4 months. 

I've learned a lot. It's funny how people say they never stop learning. You always assume it's about something about math,history,or science. It really never occurred to me that it applies to emotion. 

Hate is such a strong word. Love is an even stronger word. There really needs to be a strong passion behind either of those words for either of them to take affect. 

What I've learned? Love never hates. Ever. There will be anger. There will be sadness. There will be grief. There will be guilt. But there will never be hate. 

What do I feel right now? Disappointment. There is still a great deal of love deep in my heart, but tempered with many other emotions. 

Last night I discovered more of myself and about the nature of love that I had forgotten. Forget all about those mushy things that they say at weddings, picking scriptures of how love is kind. Love isn't kind. Love is cruel because it tears you apart and attempts to fill those holes again. 

I've done my part in ripping hearts apart already. Three hearts broken, Three hearts that will heal whether they are together or whether they are apart.

I've been bracing myself lately. My walls have been up for a week, thinking about the end of something. Whether it be my current life, or my potential future, I couldn't see that. But nonetheless, my walls were up. They rebounded briefly last night and I know.... I knew something would be ending. 

The River of Patience on all sides has dried up. The one side that I had grown to love had given up her effort to scale the wall. 

What's left then?
Disappointment. Disappointment that I will be waiting for no one in June. Disappointment that I was entering this weekend with two pessimistic hearts. 

But.. I can only think about Love. What can this torn heart offer? Encouragement and support is all I have right now. I can only wish the day brings happiness. I can only offer that my hand will always be open and willing to pull you out.

Ti amo bella. Ti amo.

I'm mentally breaking

I can feel it.
I can feel everything dying inside.
I know i will lose everything once i make a decision.
I know i will regret everything once I make a decision.

I know that i have a support network and I don't know if I will turn to them.
I know that regardless of my decision that there will be a tomorrow.

Whether or not either of them will remain in my life at any capacity is what I'm scared of. 

fuck.

Out of the box Android Homescreen ideas

So you have a shiny new Android phone. As I explained in previous installments, the biggest draw is out of the box customization. 

You've played with your new phone, but have run across some screen shots that you'd like to emulate but can't figure out how.

 

All the launchers let you place widgets and resize them on their screen, but that's just the beginning.

 

For example my homescreen

(download)


 

These are the apps I'm using on my homescreen

ADW EX

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.adwfreak.launcher&hl=en 

 

Simiclock Pro

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.th.android.widget.SiMiClock

 

Circle Battery

https://market.android.com/details?id=fr.depoortere.android.CircleBatteryWidget

 

Smooth Calendar

https://market.android.com/details?id=se.catharsis.android.calendar

 

extended controls

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.extendedcontrols

 

PowerAmp

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.maxmpz.audioplayer

 

TallMin Icons

http://droid-den.com/android-guides/android-tallmin-icon-set/

 

I prefer ADW over the other launchers just because it offers a high degree of customization. It may not be as smooth as some of the others, but I'm kind of particular about how I configure my homescreens. ADW EX is the pay version that gives you additional features. It's also kept up to date more often.

 

The majority of this is how you configure the launcher.

The main goal is

·         Hide the status bar

·         Remove the bottom dock

·         Change the Icon capacity for the homescreen.

 

But how do you get to your notifications/apps?

Easy. ADW allows for a swipe up/down gesture that you can use to trigger those behaviours

 

Step 1. Install ADW EX

Step 2. Enter ADW Settings

Image003
 

 

 

Step 3. Tap UI Settings

Image004
 

 

Step 4. Tap Main Dock, then Main Dock Style. Change it to (None)

Image005
 

 

Step 5, Go back to the UI Settings panel and enter the Screen Preferences

Image006
 

 

Step 6 Change Homescreen columns to 5

Step 7 Change Homescreen rows to 7

Step 8 Hide the StatusBar

Step 9 Overlap Widgets

Step 10 Return to ADW Settings and tap General Behaviour

Step 11 Tap Gestures

Step 12 Change swipe up/down behavior

(download)

Back out of ADW and now you can start adding your widgets!

 

Note, since we changed the icon capcity of your home screen, when you place your widgets, it will ask you to specify how wide you want your widget to be.

 

1.     Place all widgets on your homescreen. You'll probably have to extend them to fit 5x1. 

2. Add your 6 most used apps to your home screen in a column on the left.
 

3,3. hold down your simiclock widget until the 2ndary dockbar comes up. click "edit"

4. drag the simiclock edit button down so that the line goes down along the screen.

5. lock your homescreen

 

 

 

 

So. Cliffnotes:

Launcher: ADW EX (purchased) gives you resizable widgets that can overlay each other. caveat: you resize them AFTER placing your icons and other widgets.
backup laucher settings to be placed on sdcard use these to "restore" the configs to match mine.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13073183/android/adw_ex_settings.xml
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13073183/android/adw_ex_launcher.db

Widgets: (dimensions noted where applicable. you can resize in adw)
Clock: Simiclock + Weather (Donate Version) 5x1
battery: circle battery (free) 1x1
music: PowerAmp (purchased) 5x1
power controls: extended controls widget (purchased) 5x1
calendar: smooth calendar (free) 3x1

The main settings i have for ADW EX:
*No status bar
*no dock 
*7 icon rows
*5 icon columns
*swipe up for app drawer
*swipe down to open notifications
*hidden trash can 

1. Place all widgets on your homescreen. You'll probably have to extend them to fit 5x1. 

2. Add your 6 most used apps to your home screen in a column on the left.

3. hold down your simiclock widget until the 2ndary dockbar comes up. click "edit"
4. drag the simiclock edit button down so that the line goes down along the screen.

5. lock your homescreen 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts on the @Motorola Bionic on @verizonwireless

First off: I love it. 

It's fast, slick, and if you got in on the Costco deal, the daunting pricepoint of $299 (promo pricing) was offset by the glut of accessories it came with. This was my first experience with a personal 4G LTE device where i could play with it extensively, and i'm totally sold on it the speed. It's just so convenient to connect so quickly.

Exterior:
it's cute. similar to my droid x, but feels definitely lighter. The Gorilla Glass is a welcome appearance considering my abusive device nature. The transition to capacitive buttons versus the DX's physical ones was odd, but once I got used to using the power button, it's a welcome feature. I do wish i could wake the device by pressing the volume buttons though.

It has a soft touch back compared to the industrial metal feel of the DX, however it definately feels more comfortable in hand versus the dx. What i didn't like? The chromish plasticky surrounding the screen. Reminds me of a big feature phone. It's minor, but noticeable.

The standard dock has the standard charging port and a headphone port. Annoying thing is that it defaults to the stock launcher when in the dock.

Software and functionality:
Whatever Motorola did, they should be commended. This version of Blur is smooth and actually useful. Very handsome. The widgets are neutral, but very business like. Most surprising social network integration? FLICKR. I was looking for this before and I'm so glad it's on this device. The new MotoBlur launcher is very usable, but still not my cup of tea. Why? I don't like docks :o It's great as it is, but from an Android guy, i like to tinker with it. The stock launcher has a horizontally paging app drawer that's smooth and the categorization is a welcome appearance. As with all android phones, you may run into conflicts when you run multiple music apps

Motorola did a nice vibrate implementation. Not a harsh buzz like my DX, just a nice subtle bump. I'm glad it was toned down for this.

Something interesting usability issues though. 
The existing add Facebook into your phone contacts was kind of annoying. I don't talk to the 11tybillion people on FB that i've acquired through the years, why do i need ALL of them on my phone? 
The blur gallery is pretty nice with it's integration, but entirely not optimized. The pinch to zoom is very choppy. You can get a new gallery from the market that remedies this though.

On Bloatware:
Stock: there is practically 1 page of bloatware accessible from the app drawer. Do i need the NFL app? I'm more of a college football guy. Do I need all these Verizon apps? music/video/etc? no. Thankfully I could delete that golf game. What's with the Blockbuster App? I thought they were going into bankruptcy? I'm still diving into all the bloatware and *which ones i can safely freeze* but rest assured, you'll have bloatware. Thank you Titanium Backup!

Now for you tinkerers out there:
Bootloader is locked, but I rooted the first day. For the average user, rooting is getting superuser access. It doesn't do anything other than give you permission to delete/hide/freeze the bloatware you're not using.  I'm running ADW and had to fiddle with the scroll speed to get smoother, but it works well. 

Camera:
Well it's nothing to shout home about. It's not like you're buying this to document your life. You're better off getting a dedicated camera for that:o For what it does it's pretty good. Panorama, widescreen, still has issues in low light, but then you get that with any camera with a sensor the size of a pencil tip. You do have to get used to the fact it's a touch to focus camera. It's nice to change focal points on it, but WHERE IS MY MECHANICAL SHUTTER BUTTON? 

The front facing camera is pretty good. This is where 4g was a definite plus. Here i am on a bike ride in the middle of Birmingham and I can stop and start a video chat with my little sister on google talk! 

Screen:
Yeah this is something everyone is probably wondering. How is the pentile screen? It's fine. IT'S A TINY SCREEN! it's not like you're using this to proof photos for Vogue. I do have to say that there is some odd dithering in some instances and you'll only notice the pentile effect of diagonal lines if you're really picky. I noticed no ghosting during 4 days of use and text is entirely readable. Best part? USING MY PHONE IN SUNLIGHT.

Battery life:
yeah 4g is a life sucker. I can't get more than 12 hours out of the battery because when i use it, i'm CONSTANTLY using it. When it's on idle, i bet it'll go all day, but i never just let this sucker go. 

questions? comments? phobias?