All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Chris Marsden tagged me with this meme. I barely participate in these, so I’ll humor him and you.

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more
2. Find page 123
3. Count down five sentences
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people

This is from Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. In chapter 6, titled “Processing: Getting ‘In’ To Empty”, this is under the section about one item at a time:

That item may be more attractive to your psyche because you know right away what to do with it — and you don’t feel like thinking about what’s in your hand. This is dangerous territory. What’s in your hand is likely to land on a “hmppphhh” stack on the side of your desk because you become distracted by something easier, more important, or more interesting below it.

I’m trying to think of friends who will actually participate, so I’m tagging: Jean Ma, Jason Stone, Jasmine, Brett Kelly, and Brian Auer.

I was tagged by Goldie Katsu to expose eight random facts about myself. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about these before.

1. As a kid, I loved “The Price Is Right.” More specifically, I was fascinated with the game “Plinko.” My grandpa (Dad’s side) liked making things from scratch, and I remember asking him to make a Plinko board for me. Pretty dumb, considering the size of the board on the actual game show.
2. I remember playing “Spies” with my cousin, Pauline. (I’ll always know her as PeeJay, short for Pauline Janet.) I had a set of short-range walkie-talkies and…yeah.
3. When I was living in San Gabriel, the 7-Eleven had a few video arcade games. At one point in their stay at the convenience store, the coin return slot cover was broken. We found out that we could push pennies up the coin return slot then play games at a 24-cent discount. We had a lot of gaming sessions there, even though we had a Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis at home.
4. I loved computer games like Lemonade Stand and The Oregon Trail.
5. I aspire to become a minimalist.
6. Despite some of my friends thinking I’m ahead of the technology curve, I’m quite behind. My computers are a Dell Optiplex GX260 (probably a couple years old) and a 4-year-old Dell Inspiron 1100. I’m still using a 3^rd Generation iPod. I don’t upgrade my cell phone unless it’s absolutely necessary. I bought the Tungsten E (using eBay) last year because it works fine — even though the latest version is the Tungsten E2. I was using a 2 Megapixel digital camera for a long time — until this January 2007. I don’t have a HDTV. I don’t have a DVR.
7. Although I love going to concerts, especially hard rock genres, I’m a mellow rocker. I’m not down with moshing.
8. I don’t party hard. I’m pretty dull. You know, hanging out.

I’m not formerly passing this along to anyone. If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged.

Yet another meme? Bah. Fine Jon! Instead of a music baton, it’s a tech baton:

What was the the last ‘tech’ item you bought?

Ink (for my Epson Stylus Color C84) from Mr. Ink Man. Been using them for over two years.

What’s the last online purchase you made and from where?

The ink purchase was online, but I suppose I should be different for this answer. I’m going to be buying DateBk5 and BackupBuddyVFS Personal before their trials run out.

Are you going to E3? Do you know what E3 is?

I didn’t know what E3 was before, until reading Jon’s tech baton. I’m not going, but I’m sure it would’ve been fun to check out.

What’s your favorite video game?

I loved Tecmo Bowl. But somewhat more recently, I was loving Madden 2005 on PS2.

Who are you passing this on to?

• Anthony, because he didn’t do the last one and I’m trying to bug him
• Matt Read, because he hasn’t posted in awhile)
• Ria, because I don’t talk to her too often

I haven’t done one of these before, but since James passed it onto me, I can’t drop it.

Total volume of music files on my computer:

1862

The last CD I bought was:

“The Artist in the Ambulance” by Thrice

Song playing right now:

“War Is Over” by Trust Company

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

I’ll just list the five most played songs from iTunes. The number in parenthesis indicate just that.

1. “WWSWB” by Yesterday’s Rising (59)
2. “Breach Birth” by Chevelle (42)
3. “Gifts and Curses” by Yellowcard (42)
4. “Get Some” by Chevelle (37)
5. “Ohio Is For Lovers” by Hawthorne Heights (37)

Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:

• Chris Coulter
• Justin Cardinal
• Anthony Clauser
• Jon Dingman
• Cassandra Shum