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I haven’t been this engaged in the NBA playoffs since the 90’s. This Pacers run has been so much fun to watch!

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Low profile mechanical keyboards are my jam. I’ve been using the Logitech MX Mechanical Mini for the last several years. I backed the kickstarter campaign for the IQUNIX MQ80 a few months ago and received it a few days ago.

This keyboard is heavy! It isn’t something you should plan on keeping in your backpack. I’m using it as my main desk keyboard, so I don’t mind the weight.

Other that that it feels great and has been wonderful to type with. It is available for pre-order on the IQUNIX website.

Mechanical keyboards keep getting better and cheaper. Low profile and wireless is a great option for a clean desk setup.

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Tiger made the cut at the Masters this year. His first two rounds looked good. Then Saturday he had his worst round at Augusta of his career. He played okay today and had a respectable finish.

I can’t help but wonder how many more rounds of competitive golf Tiger has left in him. When he left the course today it had a feeling of finality about it. There have been several times over the years where I thought we might have seen Tiger’s last round. So who knows.

Even though he hasn’t played much, his presence has still loomed over the game. It would be weird to think about him not playing anymore. I can’t see him getting involved as a media personality. I am ready for Charlie Woods to break onto the scene. Maybe we will see Tiger on the bag in the coming years.

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Social Media is Terrible

I am not big on social media. I post pictures and updates on Facebook from time-to-time. This past college basketball season I got sucked into X (twitter). I would watch games and follow the discourse on X. As the year progressed I got deeper and deeper into it. I rarely ever posted anything, but I couldn’t keep myself from reading.

It all started with the Purdue vs Arkansas exhibition game. I went to Purdue and live in Arkansas. It was a heated overtime game even though it didn’t count. In the days following the game there was a lot of chatter on X. I started to realize there were accounts from both fan-bases whose purpose for existing was to talk shit to other basketball fans. I was amazed by the negativity and stupidity being slung online. The only thing it was trying to accomplish is to piss other people off.

As the season got started I realized this was par for the course. After every game the fans would engage in a completely inane dialogue. Posts from media members trying to cover the sport/team would be flooded with responses from hundreds of people that didn’t know what they were talking about. Or they were being completely preposterous on purpose.

When the NCAA tournament started this all got turned up to 11. As Purdue progressed on their run to the national title game the hatred became more intense. The themes and anti-Purdue narratives proliferated across the basketball watching public and the worst of them started an echo chamber of negativity. And here I was allowing myself to read it all knowing that it was a complete waste of time that could only make my emotional state worse.

For Purdue, Zach Edey took the brunt of the hostility. I have followed his entire college basketball career. The level of contempt for his success caught me off guard. It shouldn’t have. Matt Painter said it best. When a player has a lot of success in college they become a “cartoon villain”.

After UConn beat Purdue in the championship I allowed myself to read “hot takes” on X that evening, but then I completely cut myself off from consuming any more. As much as I loved following Purdue this basketball season, it was also difficult to come to the realization that the more success your team has the more everybody else will hate them. Social media is a public forum that allows fans of the successful team to witness everybody else tearing them down. It was sad.

I am sure there are many online communities way worse than college basketball. I don’t care to find out.

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Purdue Basketball Exhibition in Arkansas

Yesterday my Purdue Boilermakers traveled down to Fayetteville to play Arkansas in an exhibition game. I didn’t really know what to expect out of an exhibition game. They are both good teams, but I didn’t think it would be overly competitive. I was wrong. It was actually a really exciting game. It was clear both teams wanted to win. It ended up going into overtime and Purdue came up short to an athletic Arkansas team.

After the heartbreak of Purdue losing to Fairleigh Dickinson last year in the first round of the tournament I have been so excited for basketball season to start. With Edey coming back for his last year of eligibility I had my hopes really high. I didn’t expect to be able to start the season by watching Purdue play in an overtime game in person. It was the perfect way to start the year off.

I don’t know how good Purdue will be this year in the regular season. I mean, they should be as good as last year. I expect them to make the tournament; maybe even have a chance at another #1 seed. But no matter what happens during the regular season, the success of this year is going to come down to March. Purdue has to show up for the tournament. They don’t have to win (though that would be really awesome), but they have to have an impressive win or two; make some sort of run.

I am totally invested and really looking forward to following this Purdue team all year. Arkansas has a talented team that will fun to watch also.

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I am looking forward to trying out Apple’s new journal app, but I cannot see it pulling me away from Day One.

I’ve used Day One for over 10 years at this point and I am so used to the functionality and interface.

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Why can the word “not” often be eliminated?

Because there’s almost always a clearer way of formulating our idea.

He’s not happy.

→ He’s unhappy.

She’s not nice.

→ She’s mean.

He’s not strong.

→ He is weak.

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Collaborating with Justin on projects was a rewarding experience. Having the opportunity to work with him on a daily basis was even better. I truly value the many hours we have spent together thinking, discussing, and solving interesting problems.

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This is tough. I have failed at having patience so many times.

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Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up in your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.

Jack London

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This should provide me with some solid reading material for the next few weeks.

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The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.

Pablo Picasso (via itsquoted)

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I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.

Abraham Lincoln (via itsquoted)

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A storm brewing.

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Thoughts on Facebook

There is an ebb and flow to my use of Facebook. Sometimes I think it is fun and other times not so much. Lately I have been turned off to the general idea of sharing stuff online. However, this week I willfully engaged in something I swore I would never do… arguing on the Internet.

Mostly I don’t give a crap what people post or comment on Facebook. I see it as a place to keep up with friends and joke around. It isn’t a place for genuine emotion. In most cases the subtlety gets lost with the terse nature of status updates. Things can be easily misunderstood.

A couple days ago my wife posted a status update and a mutual friend responded with a sassy comment. I’m sure he was in a bad mood, and what my wife wrote hit him the wrong way. 99% of the time I would not even bother . However, I could tell it upset my wife, so I time-traveled back into junior high and responded with a snarky comment to “defend” her.

A couple things on Facebook in general. Facebook is the land of “likes” and “thumbs-up”. There is no dislike button for a reason. Putting a mean-spirited comment on somebody elses post is against Facebook etiquette. I felt like I needed to call that out. If you are having a bad day, post something to your friends. Don’t throw a little hissy fit in the comments of somebody elses post.

As I eluded to before, text on a screen carries so much less information that spoken words and face to face interaction. We don’t get a sense for intentionality or tone. Things can be easily misconstrued. Don’t risk being a jerk. I will be the first to acknowledge that I need to follow my own advice. Sarcasm is lost. You can not expect everybody to pick up what you are laying down. When you are joking around I don’t think this matters much. When you are trying to prove a point or say something important you have to step outside of yourself and try to understand how it will be interpreted by all of your friends; with all of their different personalities and expectations. This is not viable, and one of the reasons navigating Facebook is hard. A picture of your new such-and-such could be seen as gloating… stuff like that.

By posting this I have gone against my own advice, so I will stop. Have fun. Keep it real.