Henry Rose

Trying out the wordpress iPhone app. I’ve become more and more impressed with wordpress as a platform. Photo is view fRom the couch I’m currently laying on at work.

Deep in my heart I actually think I’m a pretty good writer.  Sure i spit a lot of crap out on to the internet, but when pressed I think I can actually write quite effectively.

Of course if one never writes, ones writing will suffer. It’s possible I’ve spent too much time in the last three years focusing on not forgetting how to ride a bike (despite the old adage that you can’t) and not enough time polishing the old brain.

If I were to make some bold proclamation about how I am going to start blogging regularly now to better my writing and keep the old brain functioning my dear readers would surely cry out that they’ve heard such promises before and are not convinced.

I think part of my problem has always been that I want to blog about the technical stuff that I do, but I’m terrified of getting something wrong and getting called out on it.  Of course that’s the wrong approach, I ought to throw my thoughts out to the Internet and embrace any feedback i get. Right.

Over the last few months <a href=”http://www.marketingmason.com/blog/”>Peter</a>, the SEO manager at Zillow, has been teaching me a bit about SEO. It’s a fascinating game that can bring in big money if you’re good and you’ve got no morals.  Anyway all this talk of SEO has inspired me to write more frequently for frequent updates make google smile upon you.

One of the things i’ve been playing with is this website.  By no skill of my own I currently rank #2 when you type in “Henry Rose”.  My great success is the tagline that google shows “Henry Rose is a man who enjoys a turducken Sandwich. Of course this is just a meta description tag, but still exciting to me as it’s my first success in manipulating the GOOG.

To cut to the chase i made another boring and self indulgent blog (exactly what this world needs).  This one i’m only going to write about the internet on. The idea is to give tips for those just getting started as their the ones that can use my knowledge the most.

I ask any readers with a technical bent to call me out on my bullshit over on my new blog about how websites work. And if anybody has something they’d like to contribute (a shocking concept i know) let me know. I’d happily give you an account.

A balmy 64 degrees here Seattle today, whoo boy! That’s exciting.

This spring is particularly welcome as it brings in the nice weather and also sees me back on my bike with a newly healed collarbone. One truly does not know how good life is until transportation, recreation and exercise are taken from them in one fell swoop.

Last weekend found me walking about on the washington coast with some good friends and great weather (good times and great oldies!). We wandered around Rialto Beach and camped two nights in the sand. I was expecting to be soaked the whole time, but in fact got a nice sunburn. After the previous weekend in Philadelphia it was an excellent reminder of how lucky we are to live on the best coast.

The most interesting thing that happens to me in spring is not my renewed interest in the bicycle, beer on the beach and messing about in boats. It is my renewed interest in the computer. What is it about long warm days that make me want to sit inside and poke away at some new computer project? Anyway, i’ve been messing about with Python. Surely nothing will come of it as we’re running at 110% down at the old bucket shop, but it’s good for the mind anyway.

One last bit: 14 carrot cafe on Eastlake. It totally sucks. More on that later perhaps.

Henry Rose Picture (playing around with the engines of search)

“If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas.” - Benjamin Franklin

Like a good spring cleaning or a swim in an alpine lake few things are as rejuvenating as a Cat Cleanin’.  For those of us with two feet a haircut is a refreshing experience that cleans up our appearance but also changes our physical experience.  On a more regular schedule many men appreciate daily a clean shaven face.

Persian cats seem to grow hair with a greater passion than most any other creature. Ben Franklin’s advice is of no use to them as they lack opposable thumbs and rational thought. Were we truly diligent cat owners ours would see the brush daily, to cleanse the undercoat and assist in the constant molting process. But alas, we have important things to do like write in boring and self-indulgent blogs or watch 30 Rock on Hulu.

But every couple of months the hair gets out of hand.  It’s grown so long that it drags on the floor, turns into matts and disrupts the … rectal region.

The evidence is plenty: balls of hair on the pillows, scoot tracks on the tile, choking on hairballs.

It becomes clear that it’s shavin’ time when shavin’ time rolls around the cat’s can also look forward to a bath. Cat’s are not known for their love of the water.

But afterward with their fur clean and short they’re so much more pleasant to be around. The ridiculous haircuts give us fuel with which to ridicule them, a most pleasant turning of the tides.  For us and them it is truly a new beginning.

More pics after the cut

(more…)