Random ramblings of Jason Bainbridge, an Aussie Geek currently residing in Houston, TX and about to move back to Sydney, Australia.Tumblr (3.0; @jaseone)http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/<p>Shaving is something I have never enjoyed, no matter what technique I would use with what blade and what shaving cream I would always end up looking like my face had been attacked with the bayonets of a platoon of toy soldiers! For a while I tried an electric shaver of the foil variety but that never gave me a close shave and I eventually ended up leaving the power cord in an Indinesian hotel so it became a paperweight as I wasn’t able to find a replacement cord.</p> <p>Fast forward to yesterday when I was out and about at shopping with Kimberly when I saw a rotary Norelco shaver on the cheap so my girlfriend being as awesome as she is bought it for me!</p> <p>So far so good! It doesn’t irritate my skin at all and gives a pretty close shave, although I think I will need to use it for a few weeks to get the best use out of it so my face has a chance to get used to it.</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58959320http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58959320Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:18:52 -0600<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/5l0NZOArxg16x6pypIWD6DHKo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>My favorite photo I have ever taken! Makes me yearn for home!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58584407http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58584407Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:36:53 -0600<p>One thing is for certain my liver is going to thank me when I return to Australia, have been drinking way too much here in Houston!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58584139http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58584139Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:33:33 -0600<a href="http://rtmilk.com">Remember the Milk</a>: <p>I had used Remember the Milk (RTM) in the past but had recently switched to Toodledo mainly for the native iPhone support (through Appigo’s ToDo and then Toodledo’s own iPhone app) plus to try out a different web interface, however RTM just also released a native iPhone application so I have now switched back as their app is by far the best I’ve used on the iPhone!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58366547http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58366547Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:53:13 -0600<p>I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all sorts of different things, one of which is what the future holds for me and where I would like my life to lead. This lead to the development of my new 5 year goal, actually it may actually be the first 5 year goal I have ever set. The goal is:</p> <blockquote>To be able to do my work while I sit in my porch swing in my house in the mountains.</blockquote> <p>I say “my porch swing” and “my house” in the goal to emphasize the ownership of my own goal but I actually mean “our porch swing” and “our house” as in Kimberly and I’s.</p> <p>I’m just tired of working in a cubicle farm and being such a slave to corporations, where your every move is open to scrutiny and where there are so many rules imposed on you. Like why should I feel bad if one of my dogs is sick and I need to take time off work to take them to the vet? I want freedom to use my time as I see fit, which means either working for myself doing freelance work, creating my own startup or working for a company that has similar ideals to my own.</p> <p>I first started forming this goal while I was displaced in Dallas by Hurricane Ike and was sitting in Kimberly’s mum’s porch swing in her house in Mesquite listening to the soothing sound of the wind chimes while I worked remotely on my laptop. It just felt so right to be swinging gently in the swing as I worked on a document detailing the steps of a production migration for a client so that led me to think why can’t every day be like that?</p> <p>The “in the mountains” part of the goal comes from a life long dream of mine to live in the mountains as to me that seems like the ideal lifestyle, living in a scenic area surrounded by nature with an abundance of fresh air and being able to see the stars at night!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58335989http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/58335989Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:06:51 -0600<p>Lately at work I’ve been using an iPhone application named Ambiance to provide me with some ambient sounds while I work on critical tasks and I must say it has worked wonders with my productivity! Of course you don’t need an iPhone app to play ambient sounds like rain falling with wind in the background or waves gently hitting the beach but Ambiance just makes it handy.</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47357582http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47357582Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:49:50 -0500<a href="http://www.toodledo.com/">Toodledo</a>: <p>I have been using this a lot lately to manage all my tasks, while at work or at home in front of the laptop I use this website and then I sync with Appigo’s ToDo on my iPhone for while I’m on the go. works a treat!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47324201http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47324201Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:37:00 -0500<p>Fights and cops galore at Little Woodrows tonight! I actually had to intervene! *sigh*</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47066121http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/47066121Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:26:39 -0500<p>These days I find myself more & more tired, I just have zero to no energy with it seeming like my only reason to exist is to put in my hours at work and even then often that isn’t enough for the powers that be & I get asked to work even more hours… It didn’t used to be this bad did it? I don’t remember being such a slave to work before and I don’t remember feeling the need for so many happy hours after work either.</p> <p>So what went wrong? I blame part of it on Houston’s less than favorable climate and it being such an urban area, where in the past I’ve lived in areas much more favorable to recreational activties.</p> <p>Back in my hometown of Helensburgh, NSW Australia we literally had bushland (forest to my American friends) within a couple of blocks of our house so that was an endless source of recreational activities - hiking, biking & even swimming amongst other things so I was always outside enjoying life.</p> <p>Then during my stint in Perth, WA Australia there was the beautiful Swan River and lots of surrounding parkland that made it a joy to either cycle or go inline skating. Plus in both areas the climate was much more friendly to outdoor activities, sure it got damn hot during summer at times and the winters were colder for longer but the life sucking humidity wasn’t there, which makes all the difference in the world!</p> <p>So how to rectify the situation? First step is to eliminate so many happy hours and in that regard I have been doing better lately, we have also been eating at home more often recently with me doing a lot of the cooking, just need to work on making the cooking more healthy in nature. What I haven’t been doing so good on is the exercising, I just can’t seem to find the time or the energy to get to the gym or out on the bike.</p> <p>I need to come up with some motivational measures to help me get out there again and get back into shape, maybe I should look at joining a mountain bike racing team again? Any other ideas? Maybe even a bootcamp just so I have a reponsibility to be somewhere at a certain time?</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46555203http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46555203Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:37:44 -0500<p>Just delivered the first drop of a PDA solution to a client, kind of relieved and kind of scared at the same time…</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46457128http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46457128Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:49:43 -0500<p>I’m very much a person that likes minamilist things, I don’t like complexity at all and often find myself at work trying to find a solution to an issue that will reduce complexity in the application so I am currently loving Tumblr as opposed to Wordpress.</p> <p>To me Wordpress has just become too bloated and complex, partly because too many people these days look to blogging to make money so a lot of features have been introduced to assist with this mainly through search engine optimization. However isn’t the heart of blogging to share your thoughts with those you know?</p> <p>I even find myself at times getting all excited to have a number 1 result for a keyword on Google, but really who cares? Why does that matter so much to everyone?Are you really monetizing sufficiently for it to matter? Now of course for the Engadgets and Gizmodo’s of the world it matters but to me they aren’t even blogs but just news sites.</p> <p>So for now I am forgetting about SEO for my personal blog and just focusing on sharing my thoughts with those that know me and hey if new people stumble across this site through search engines then all the better but I’m not even going to install tracking on this blog (or is tumble the correct term?).</p> <p>I’m looking forward to just getting into plain old blogging again and keeping y’all up to date with what’s happening with me so stay tuned and if RSS is your thing then subscribe away!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46434500http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46434500Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:08:04 -0500<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/5l0NZOArxcsuryykuomt5NOm_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Lunch, a mystery salad from Tiramisu!</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46430164http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46430164Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:35:37 -0500<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/5l0NZOArxcsthiujV9Beg7sb_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>From yesterday’s Astros game</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46426098http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46426098Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:59:29 -0500<p>Am giving Tumblr a trial primarily using Tumble on my iPhone as I find Wordpress is too complex these days.</p>http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46422734http://blog.jasonbainbridge.com/post/46422734Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:30:36 -0500