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What is life hacking? It’s a term that’s been around for almost two years that deals with productivity. It refers to just about any good idea or customization that optimizes your productivity in life–most often some software install or tweak. I’m not sure who coined it, but the Gawker Media empire jumped on it in January of 2005 with LifeHacker.com. Every magazine I’ve picked up in the past few months, from Wired to People, seems to have dedicated one page to the concept.

LifeHacking seems to be catchy for three reasons. First, most of us are feeling overstimulated. With the Interweb reaching over a decade of ubiquity, we’ve all gotten better at finding distractions. Many life hacks involve ways to remove some noise. Second, it rhymes with “wife crack.” And finally, life hacks feel good. Aquiring a tool that works and saves time creates that, “how did I live without it” feeling. Ask anyone how they feel a month after they get their first DVR. Lifehacks existed all through the industrial revolution, but often they were referred to as “kitchen appliances.”

Why am I doing this post? I’ve been swamped at work lately, so a post on life hacking seems like a great way to avoid being productive.

Here’s some of my favorite lifehacks from the past year, in no order:
– SpamBayes – Some sort of spam filter is essential these days (that phrase opens every lifehack description). SpamBayes is easy to configure and works really well with MS Outlook.
– Bloglines – Or some RSS reader. If you don’t know what RSS is, don’t worry. An RSS reader is a program or website that does some magic stuff to give you a favorites list that conveniently highlights the links that have changed since the last time your read that page. It saves you from clicking to old content. What I want is an RSS reader on my homepage that also has weather and my email, but is not made by Google. I may have to build it.
– BitTorrent – A piece of software that allows you to download whole albums or movies on your home machine while you are sleeping or at work. It saves you the time it takes to go to a record store or to earn the money to actually buy these things. It’s fine for music, however, to watch a movie, Netflix is actually more time efficient.
-CFLs – As pictured above, Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. They are not that much more expensive than regular bulbs and they last a ton longer. Even better for me, they burn cooler which keeps my small pad more temperate in the sweltering heat wave we are in.
– Hotkeys – A piece of software that allows you to set keyboard shortcuts for anything you want. I use CRTL-ALT-I to get to the Interent for optimized time wasting with Fantast Football.
– Start-up Inspector – A great piece of software to remove or turn off all those pretentious piece of shit software (unlike the useful stuff like Hotkeys) such as Quicktime that think they need to run in the background of your machine.
– Jot Book – A common idea, but one enforced in me by Tori Rowan, you should always carry a pen and notebook. Always. No software necessary.
– Online banking – Do not be in the zaps without it.
– Firefox

Some LifeHacks I need:
– A spellchecker for my blog.
– A good desktop photo database solution. Don’t say iPhoto or I will spit at you.

Maybe tonight, because you are still packing. Our friend Heidi is moving to the golden West (AAHS alma mater quote) for a better job. The kids brought their A-game to Lolita to tilt some spirtis in her honor, pictures to follow.

I didn’t have a shot for awhile, so I did a Google image search and found what appears to be a movie about Heidi’s trip to the other coast. I can’t tell though, because I think the text is Danish. I looked at some screenshots to get the gyst of what our Heidi is in for when she moves.

Here we see Heidi on a mountain overlooking her new town, her NYC black clothes in a Dumpster somewhere near Ames. She looks pretty stoked.

It doesn’t take her long to settle in and raise a family of goats…

…and then engage is destructive relationship with a much older man?!?! No, no! This movie is not about our Heidi at all. CUT!

That totally failed. Here’s some Sites of the Day
-On of my favorite “That guy”s (to use a Bill Simmonsism), Jim Gaffigan was interviewed by Gothamist. He’s the dopey Midwestern commedian who is the brunt of the “meow” joke in Supertroopers.
– What used to be my favorite day of the summer, the Siren Festival is now an event I can’t even drag myself to. The Thighmaster summed up his day at Siren, and I think it matches what mine would have been.

Thanks to Walker for the picture above.

The company took a schooner on a harbor cruise to see Lady Liberty last evening. Co-worker Dave (see the head above) used the trip to get Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to Be an American” stuck in my head. I like my country but I sure hate that song with it’s cheap rhymes and terrible cadence. I made this joke before, I bet Lee Greenwood prays for wars.

Link: Chartering the Adirondack
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Site of the Day: Speaking of freedom, liberty, and rednecks, an interesting film on flying the Confederate flag in Pennsylvania, north of the Mason-Dixon. North, people!

Unlike James Bond, Superman, or the Olsen twins, I have to eat every day. It can’t always be at mitzvahs like Sammy’s or Pirate parties around here. Today’s shot is four tupperware bowls of chicken and thai noodles that I cooked on Sunday to eat all week. That’s excitement, right? Packing the lunch, saving some dough.

Ugh.

Here’s some links to make you happy:
– From Erik, Death Metal Interpreted. Here are the real lyrics.
– From Adam, a very good Guinness commercial. I think the gagging mudskipper is cute.
– Ceiling cat is watching you…
– Vibram lets you go barefoot but not really.
– Via Fark, a mouse on a cat on a dog.

Last night while you were watching So You Think You Can Dance? I was dancing with Pirates! Or at least on a boat with Coronas. The gf, Erik, and I hit the Hamstravaganza, a promotion for The Pirates! books I mentioned last week.

If you’ve never been to The Frying Pan, get there. It’s an old lighthouse ship that is now a party venue. Guests get full run of the ship, so even without pirates and ham it’s quite an experience. Today’s shot is from the dance floor in the main hold, looking up to Erik on the gang plank wearing a party favor eyepatch.

The party suffered slightly due to the nice weather. Many of the guests chose to enjoy the lovely night on deck, perusing the free copies of The Pirates! everyone received, rather than take in the bands below. We did check out Rob Paravonian, a guitar playing comedian. His last number was a real hit. He sang about his loathing for Pachabel’s Canon in D, which has been repurposed for a thousand modern pop songs, including hits by Green Day, U2, and Twisted Sister. There are no original chord progressions.

The pirate fashion show didn’t take off as planned, but the MC dressed as a pig dressed as a pirate still brought it home. There was also a display labeled “Notable Pyrates in Hystery* *The terms ‘notable,’ ‘pirates,’ and ‘hystery’ may or may not be applied loosely to this exhibit. ” Read the blurb on Pittsburgh baseball great Honus Wagner to get a bit of the sensibilty of the book.

Unfortunately, the author Gideon Defoe was either not there or I never saw him. I was hoping to get an autographed copy for Dan and Jer, but instead I got them the more pristine un-autographed copies. Aarghh! Ye can pick them up anytime.

Links:
– Hamstravaganza
– The Frying Pan on Citysearch

Nestled in a basement on Chrystie Street lies a New York classic, Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse. This Jewish eatary and party center is decorated like a poor grandmother’s house: too brightly lit, cluttered, and covered with yellowing photos, but the atmosphere is pure Hebrewapalooza. An MC with mic and keyboard leads the various tables in song and dance. The group to our left was celebrating their grandparents’ 50th. To are right was an enormous birthday bash. We settled in the middle to feast in wide-eyed wonder.

Sammy’s is one a dying breed, a classic Jewish place downtown in NYC, as noticable by the Hebrew-esque font of the logo, similar to the recently closed 2nd Avenue Deli.

A guide to basic Yiddish is on every table. It includes that “oy vei” means “April 15th” and a bunch of other jokes I didn’t quite get. You can see the MC in the background telling everyone to get off their “tuckus.”

The food is really expensive but the portions are huge. Two people could easily split the small stake and one order of latkes (potato pancakes cooked in schmoltz, which is chicken fat. Not healthy, but really tasty).

And then Mike and the entire restaurant were doing the Hora around us while I fought to eat more than I ever had. Surreal. Oh, and I was drunk.

I hate myself, but I ate the whole steak. I hurt for a day and a half. Ugh.

Complimentary for the table was a round of egg creams. To make an egg cream, pour about an inch of cold whole milk in a glass. Spray in traditional seltzer to fill the glass and then drizzle in a half or full inch of chocolate syrup. The with a long spoon it must be whipped from the bottom to a chocolate milk like consistency, preferably finishing with a nice top of foam. It’s a knack.

Links:
– Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse Citysearch Review

Just south of my apartment they are dancing in the streets to celebrate Italy’s victory at the World Cup. There was a Jumbotron set up on Elizabeth and Spring and all the restaurants in Little Italy had flat screen TVs in the windows facing the crowded streets. I have never seen so many Italians and I have been to Rome. I wasn’t rooting for Italy (they flop) but the excitement on the street is very contagious. They are still parading around on motor scooters now.

By chance before last weekend, I happened to pick up a two novel book called “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists” and “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab.” These were the first books to make me laugh outloud in a very long time. I won’t spoil the book by quoting it, but get it now and read it. The Pirate Captain is on the cusp of becoming a huge overnight sensation.

Get in on the fun early and join me next Tuesday at Hamstavaganza at The Frying Pan on 23rd Street. It’s a pirate party hosted by the author, Gideon Defoe. Arrr, shanties shall be sung!

For the long day weekend, I was not permitted to go and conquer some state highpoint. Instead, I let the gf choose and we ended up visiting Matt and Kristen at their summer apartment in Newport, RI. If you are not familiar with the town, let’s just say it’s a woman’s dream–quaint, shopping, cafes, and beaches. Not a mountain in sight. Luckily, for me, there were also bars.

The historic downtown is excellent for strolling.

Along with the harbor and boats, there is the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Most of my travels on this site are places that I hope my friends will go. Some are places that I go so you don’t have to.

Also in town was the U.S Open of the LPGA. We skipped that event, but were force to share the streets with golf people. Pink polo shirts are NOT acceptable. I freakin’ hate golf.

If you didn’t know, you should, the most famous thing about Newport is the mansions. Lots of ’em, each bigger than the last. Most of the huge ones are now museums and open to the likes of me.

A windy day drove us off the beach, so I suggested we do the Cliff Walk…A THREE AND A HALF MILE HIKE. Hahahahaha. I knew I could sneak hiking into the gang’s precious beach weekend. Death to the beach! Actually, the next day I remembered how much I love swimming in the ocean, but we had to leave early. Kristen keeps a mysterious, yet very strict schedule that all must obey.

The walk gives the best view of the mansions, and is a must-do if you visit Newport. That gray one is Belcourt Castle, I think. The path intersects roads often along the way so it can be as short or as long (I drug the gf for over six miles!) as you want.

One of the mansions was not like the others. I think it was a temple. We saw some monks and some affluent Asians meditating in suits on the lawn.

The walk is “unimproved” for the last mile or so and contains some decent bouldering. It’s also the least crowded and most beautiful.

If you don’t have a botlle opener at your beach apartment, a screwdriver, hammer, and some paper towels through which you can strain out the glass shards can work.

I’m not a beach guy, but I did like Newport. The restaurants were very underwhelming and touristy, but Pasta Palace on the way to the beach did have some of the best homemade sauce I have ever had. Second Beach was really nice when the weather cooperated. There are tons of sailboat tours that I would look into if I went back. Also, there were tons of people jogging on the Cliff Walk and I want to try that. Four days of nothing but vegging under the sun and drinking made me feel like a slug. Still, a slug very happy to not be at work.

Links:
– Visit Rhode Island – Newport
– Newport Wikipedia
– Newport Mansions
– Bellcourt Castle

Like a moonwalk, but without the glove and creepiness. And not deceptively backwards. Actually, nothing like the moonwalk.

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We visited Newport, RI, this weekend and saw the best side of the town’s famous mansions while doing the Cliff Walk. Unfortunately, I am Boston on business today so those photos (plus some Scooter shots) will have to wait.

Happy Belated Independence.