My thinking - Gas prices

Gas has dropped to bellow $3.50 a gallon (in California) and looks to be dropping even farther. The world economy needs oil to sell at $100 dollar a barrel to fund most of it's socialist governments. If oil keeps dropping this will spell trouble to many countries around the world specifically Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. I think these countries will lash out in some fashion. Could we see the spark of greater regional conflicts? When countries get in trouble they go to war to distract their populations. Every country on this planet has done this in one way or another. Buckle up people, it is going to get interesting if the price of oil keeps falling.

Technology - Chromebook

I have not used my Chromebook in some time. I have been using my Acer Windows 8 laptop because of school. I also like the fact that I can write music and use FreeMind, a mind mapping program. I can't do that on my Chromebook. I also like the fact that I can use my windows laptop without having to be online. I keep looking on Amazon and I see that there are many more windows models that sell in the $200-$300 range. I also notice that many of the new Chromebook models are selling wither in the same range or for more. I think this spells trouble for Chromebook. One of the selling point for Chromebook was the price. Now that you can get a windows laptop for the same price, why get a Chromebook? Now Chromebooks are more reliable and they are faster online, but windows machines are so much more functional.

In the end, I have gone back to my windows machine. I wish it was as fast and reliable as my Chromebook, but I like all the functionality. In the end functionality wins.

My thinking - Reboot

I have not posted anything to my blog in three months. Why did I stop? I just lost interest and became busy with work and school. I am halfway through the semester at school. Things are going well. I finished an introduction to computers class this summer and this fall i am taking an intro to the internet and intro to programming classes. Why am i back at school? To defer my student loans and because I love going to school (no wonder I have a masters and most of a PhD.).

My goal is to just post the stuff I write in my journal on a daily basis. I have a section in my journal that is called "my thinking". Every day I write entries that reflect what I am thinking about. So that is what I am going to post from here on out. I figure that I will post at least one thing every day and more if things pop into my mind and I write about it.

Thank you to all of you who have come by and read what I have written. You guys are awesome!

Technology - Chromebook

I am glad to be back using my Chromebook. Yes, I can't do everything that I did on my Windows laptop, but I can do most of everything without any glitches or waiting for things to load. I love the speed of my Chromebook. I did not realize how fast it was. Considering that it only has a Celeron chip, I am blown away at how fast it boots and how fast it navigates the internet. For example, I used Google Docs on both machines. On my Windows laptop I would load Google Docs and go get something to drink while it loaded. On My Chromebook I just click on it and seconds later I am off and writing. Considering how much writing i do, it saves me lots of time just using my Chromebook. Now I do miss Word and Finale (for writing music), but I can live without them and enjoy all the added minutes I have to being productive.

What do you think?

Technology - Chromebook

I have been using a Windows laptop for a month now and I actually started to miss my Chromebook. So I put the Windows laptop aside and fired up my Chromebook. I miss how fast it is. I also miss not having any problems. I don't know what it is about Windows, but there is always some glitch to mess with. I have been having problems with the trackpad on my Windows laptop for about a week. I also had to deal with a couple of malware scares. In the 8 months I used my Chromebook I never had a glitch of any kind and I did not have to deal with any kind of virus or malware. Now if my Windows laptop could be as fast and worry free as my Chromebook, I would be in heaven. I am seriously thinking of switching back to using my Chromebook as my main device. Since my class has ended (the reason I bought a low end Windows laptop), I don't need to use my Windows laptop on a regular basis. In fact, that is what I am going to do and see how things go. I will miss not being able to use the full features of Office, and not being able to write music, but I will not miss the glitches, viruses, and all the other issues I had with my Windows laptop.

What do you think?

World News – Ebola

There is a possible Ebola patient in New York City. There may also be a possible Ebola patient in London. If these two cases are true, then Ebola is now present in the U.S. and in Europe. So much for Ebola staying in Africa! Maybe we will get lucky and no other people will get infected? Unfortunately, I think our luck is running out when it comes to pandemics. If these two patients are infected, how many people have been exposed already? How many people are walking the streets of the world’s financial capitals spreading a fatal disease that no one can cure? The potential for a catastrophe is huge. Can you imagine what will happen if Ebola begins to spread through New York and London? Wow, this is much bigger than an economic storm. This is a life altering catastrophe of Biblical proportions – if it in fact comes to pass.

What do you think?

World News – Ebola

I just finished reading some of the news of the Ebola virus. It looks like there has been a major outbreak in Africa and it might be out of control (though no one is stating it clearly). So far there have been over 800 deaths and more are dying every day. What is different this time is that many of the medical staff that has responded to the outbreak has contracted the disease. Is this the one? Is this the “pandemic” we have been warned about for decades? There’s a report that a 72 year old woman collapsed and died from fever and vomiting at Gatwick in London as she came off a plane from Sierra Leone. If this woman tests positive for Ebola, then the game is afoot (sorry for the Sherlock Holmes reference). There is also a report that the CDC has set up a quarantine area at Los Angeles International Airport. Why? Do they know more than they are telling us? What if the Virus is out of control, when would they tell us? This could get scary rather quickly. Hopefully it will all be contained and we will have to wait for another day for the pandemic that will decimate the world.

What do you think?

World News - Update

There is no major news this morning. Israel is still pounding Gaza. It is attempting to clear out the rockets and shut down all the tunnels. In Ukraine tensions are still high though no one knows who shot down the civilian airliner. Argentina defaulted on their debt again. Ebola is still on the rampage in Africa with at least two Americans contracting the disease. One has been transported back to the states for treatment. So the virus has arrived, but hopefully will be contained. If we can’t contain it here in the U.S., then we are going to be in a world of trouble. What would happen if a highly infectious disease made it to the U.S.? How many people would be killed and what would happen to our economy and way of life? It would be a catastrophe of Biblical proportions.

What do you think?

Personal Improvement – Reasons For Not Succeeding

I just read through a post about 13 reasons for not succeeding. Here are the two reasons I agree with:

• Fear – many times we will either quit or not even try because fear will keep us from going on. To be successful we must figure out how to work in spite of fear.
• Negativity – If I got paid a dollar for every time someone pointed out what was wrong rather than what was right, I would be well off. Negativity keeps us from working towards our goals. Since we get what we focus on, focus on what is positive.

Why just these two? Because it seems to me that all the other reasons are just forms of either fear or negativity. Also, if you deal with these two, you will fix the others.

What do you think?

For more: http://www.thevibrantwriter.com/13-reasons-you-are-not-as-successful-as-you-should-be-infographic/

Blogging – Coming Up With Blog Posts

I have not been very good at coming up with blog posts lately, so I have decided to come up with a way to help me come up with things to write about. Here is what I have so far:
• Decide what topics I want to write about. For me it is the News, the Economy, the Future, Writing, Creativity, Internet Business, Personal-Improvement, Technology, and Observations.
• Search the internet for anything interesting on the topics I want to write about. I like to use Google for news and key words. I check in with Alltop for what is being written about by other bloggers. I also like to spend time on Quora and Google +.
• Start writing when I find something interesting. This is where I have been falling short lately. I keep saying to myself that what I am reading and finding is not interesting. That might not be true. It might just be that I am not in the mood to write about it, so I skip it. I am going to try to stop that and see what comes of it.
So that is the method I have devised. I am going to use it and see if it works.

What do you think?