Apple... We Need a Break.
I grew up in a time when Apple computers were just some distant world that I had no reason to exist in. They were the "other" computers that anyone who wanted to get "real work" done simply didn't use. The world was too invested in Windows to switch to another incompatible ecosystem. This was until 2003, when I got my first Apple product, an iPod, followed by my first laptop (through school) a PowerBook G4. I was instantly hooked. The design was beautiful, functional, and I was blown away by the quality and surprised by how easily it connected with the other old dingy Windows machines I was used to. Apple was KILLING it by 2007, when they released the iPhone. I was pulled in even further, and eventually bought every single iPhone released until the iPhone 7. Among other devices where Apple was king (the iPad, Cinema Display, their MacBook line, etc.) I continued to bury myself deeper into the Apple product world.
It was easy to brag about my beautiful elegantly designed Apple products. They were the highest quality products in their category. A MacBook Pro was the pinnacle of perfect laptops, and it was made clear by the imitation from other manufacturers (I mean, look at this thing >> http://bit.ly/2eWgHcq ) .. Everything about the Apple design was also true about hardware performance. These machines were virtually virus-proof, never had "blue screens of death" and, most importantly, were at the forefront of innovation. Something as simple as a trackpad was just better when Apple made it (this is still somewhat true).
Then... something happened in the tech world. I can't easily describe it, but I feel like we've hit sort of a plateau when it comes to the "magic" of new technology. Let me try to explain. You know that feeling you got when you got your first smartphone? The entire internet in the palm of your hand, an organizer, a calculator, a personal assistant, the entire world in an object the size of a pop tart. This really felt like magic to me. It was such a major shift forward in our world, that it's affected man kind as a whole. I felt this when I first experienced WiFi (Wikipedia while sitting at the toilet?!). This feeling, the experience of seeing the world change with the release of a tech product, is something I haven't felt in years. Everything has essentially just become a series of spec bumps, bigger screens, more gimmicky features, and more of the same. Better cameras, better processors, better screens, etc. etc.
But "better" doesn't always mean "next level."
This is something that Apple understood. A perfect example is when they stopped including disc drives in their laptops. It was a bold move; there were some that definitely complained. Honestly, I dont remember when was the last time I used a DVD or CD-ROM, and I have actually only played two Blu Rays in my life. Apple was RIGHT about this. The world was abandoning discs, and they wanted to lead this change towards progress.
This forward-thinking boldness, however, led to Apple releasing the 2016 Macbook Pro. A laptop that requires dongles, adapters, and special cables to perform basic functions like plugging into a TV or charging your iPhone. It features a tiny touchscreen on the keyboard, announced the same week Microsoft released the Surface Studio, an all-in-one with a 28" touch screen, backed by an OS that actually has a touch interface (sometimes). Microsoft also has a laptop that breaks in half to transform into a tablet. It has two sets of batteries and graphics cards and processors to make it truly feel like two separate devices in one. THIS is innovation. THIS is magic.
This old familiar feeling came over me. I can't just transition to the latest/greatest computer... I'm a creative. PCs are the "other" computers that any creatives who wanted to get "real work" done simply don't use. The creative world is too invested in Apple to switch to another incompatible ecosystem. Sound familiar?
My relationship with Apple is beginning to sound JUST like my ex. History is repeating itself.
It's time for an ultimatum.
Apple... It's time for a break. I'm currently very happy with my Macbook Pro, and it will have a pretty long lifespan. I can live with it. If it dies prematurely, you better believe I'm getting a Surface Book (I feel like an abused spouse that's sticking around until they can save up enough to leave in the middle of the night). In the meantime, I need you to work on the following:
- Release macOS 11. It needs to have a touchscreen GUI.
- macOS 11 should work in a way that allows for a 100% touch experience OR a 100% mouse experience OR a 100% stylus experience. Call it the GUI Trinity or something. Don't halfbake it like Windows 10 (try messing with 8 different giant spreadsheets on a Surface Pro without a mouse. It sucks.)
- Create a new line called the MacPad. It should run macOS 11. It should be dock-able like the Nintendo Switch. Maybe create a line of Pro Docks with a built-in keyboard that supplement the video card and battery like the Surface Book.
- Release a giant Touch Display for MacBooks and MacPads. It better be 5K resolution.
- Make peripherals that are beautiful but are still ergonomic. The Magic Mouse is not ergonomic. It's terrible. It may just be the worst mouse on the market right now.
It's been a wild ride, Apple. Maybe we can get together again sometime after we've both grown.
Jesus Loves Fonts, Too
So I wrote a blog for my buddy Eric Hufschmid, and he made the terrible mistake of actually posting it...
Has a font ever "bothered" you? Have you ever been "inspired" by a typeface? I certainly have. I'm in a strange position, where I have years of experience as a designer and creative director (formerly, my "Bruce Wayne") as well as leading worship at church (my "Batman"). Lately, I've managed to marry both of these worlds, and I'm currently a Worship Director and Video Producer at Liquid Church in NJ. Audio/visual content is literally my thing. Why fonts need to matter to you will become clearer as I get into it, I promise...
Global Warming: Your Uncle Probably Doesn't Believe in it, but Most Smart People Do
Global warming is one of these hot topics that has caused so much weird debate lately, mostly between non-scientists. By non-scientists, I'm referring to us lowly civilians that have no real say in these matters, but think that our Googling makes us authorities on whatever subject we like. Though it seems that the world is "torn" on the subject, a Yale University study found that only about 23% of people don't "believe" in it.
As for actual scientists, this debate is pretty much non-existent, since 90% of these eggheads agree that climate change is real, and it's humanity's fault. Here's another study with similar results, in case you're still feeling whatever it is you're feeling.
This made me curious about what the general consensus is among institutions the world as a whole respects—Ivy Leage Universities, world-renowned established egghead-centers, etc.
- Oxford University (that big old school in the UK) has a whole institute devoted to environmental change. They talk about the whole climate change being our fault like it's an obvious fact.
- Harvard does too.
- MIT's official Global Change Program dismisses the climate debate in the very first sentence of its "About Us" page.
- Stanford University's Global Climate & Energy Project seems to have the same stance.
- University of Toronto's Centre for Global Change "About" page cuts to the chase pretty quickly as well.
- The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has a nifty line graph in case people don't know what "increase of global climate temperature" means.
I could keep finding more of these, but this is stupid and it's 1 am.
Anyway, that's that. Stop idling your car. Christmas was like 70 degrees this year, guys.
The Year Two Thousand Fifteen
This year, my wife and i traveled to Orlando to mourn the loss of her last grandparent. It was a sad week for many, but beautiful to see a family come together from all over the country.
We visited our alternate-universe-reverse-doppleganger-bff-couple, the Steeles in Portland, and trekked through Portland and Seattle. It was amazing.
We saw All Sons & Daughters live @ NYC. It was beautiful, except for the fact that my wife was super annoyed by some girl who sang louder than the band the whole time :-(
Some dear friends of mine got married this year. Needless to say, honeymoon jokes were made. Also, I sang at this shindig, and the groom cried. Hah.
Had some fun at some weddings...
In 2015, we joined the family at Liquid Church. After flirting with the idea for a few weeks, we sealed the deal on the day of our wedding anniversary, which landed on the same day as Liquid at the Shore, an event held at Ocean Grove, NJ. This transition, of uprooting and re-planting, took time and energy (it's an ongoing process), but we know God's will is perfect and sovereign.
Another major highlight was attending my first professional sport game with my wife and brothers. It just happened to be watching the Yankees from VIP box seats. Just sayin.
My little brother graduated from 8th grade. Makes me happy to see him move on, though sometimes I wish he'd stay 3 yrs old forever.
After spending time with old friends in PA, discovering Niagara Falls and Toronto, and making new friends with some Long Beach Island action, vacation mode was hard to let go.
A jarring, bittersweet surprise, an emotional rollercoaster that involved pregnancy, loss, and accepting of God's will, came to us unexpectedly.
Following the theme of "change" for 2015, God led us to take a leap of faith: I quit my job as an Art Director in NYC and joined Liquid Church as full-time staff: Worship Leader + Video Producer.
Posted by Carlos Ariel Fernandez on Tuesday, October 20, 2015
My brother and I surprised my mom with a sister reunion for her birthday on Thanksgiving. Don't remember the last time we had this many ppl in our apartment.
By the way, 2015 is when we started a new tradition in our home: group photos on the couch, where I set a 10 second timer on the tripod and run to join the group like sitcoms in the 90's.
To wrap up the craziness of 2015, Liquid Church had a sermon series based on Star Wars called Cosmic Christmas. It was all over the news. Storm Troopers in the lobby, Darth Santa taking photos, and Pastor Tim dressed as Han Solo. Dude. HASHTAG BLESSED.
2016, BRING IT ON!
Our Miscarriage and Why Announcing Early Isn't So Bad
There are pains that all humans learn to deal with: a loss of a grandparent, puberty & growing pains, a close friend moving away. We learn to deal with them mainly because people tend to outwardly cope, sometimes announcements are made publicly, and as we grow up, we’re taught that these things are normal and simply “part of life.” I don’t believe this is the case with miscarriages.
Here are the stats on miscarriages:
- An average of 20% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. (Note that this is only counting pregnancies that are clinically recognized. Who knows how many unreported cases there are.)
- 50-75% of miscarriages are "chemical pregnancies" (fertilized eggs that fail to survive)
This means that there is a pretty good chance (whether you may have realized or not) that you will encounter a miscarriage at some point in your life… but why is it so hard to cope with something so common? The answer: an old school mentality that leads to a lack of transparency.
For many years, it was thought that a miscarriage meant a woman’s uterus was an “inhospitable environment;” that their bodies actually “killed” their baby. Miscarriages often have a major impact on marriages and relationships. It can lead to depression, anger, and confusion. Imagine carrying a brand new life in your womb, then finding out that this life has ended?
This mentality has lead to the traditional time frame window: wait after the first trimester (during which most miscarriages occur) before making an official pregnancy announcement. Just in a purely mathematical viewpoint, you can already see how this negatively affects society. Most women wait to announce. This leads to never announcing miscarriages, which leads to people thinking that miscarriages are rare, when in fact, they are not.
(Please keep in mind that all of this also applies to the conception process. Getting pregnant after “trying” for 18 months is more common than you think!)
What I consider to be a good solution to this societal problem:
As soon as you find out you’re pregnant, tell your friends. It doesn’t have to be a public announcement, but inform at least as many people in your “support network” as possible. These are the people that you love and trust that will be your “net” and catch you if/when the time comes to inform them of a miscarriage.
If/when you’re ready to do so, tell young females about what you’re dealing with. Tell them how long you’ve been trying to get pregnant, tell them that miscarriages are common, and that everything will likely be ok. If you have daughters/nieces, do the world a favor and tell them!
So here’s our story:
This week, after some pain and a trip to the emergency room, we got the surprise that my wife Leah was 5 weeks pregnant. Though it was very exciting, a few days later, we ended up at the hospital again and lost our child to an ectopic gestation, meaning the baby was forming in a fallopian tube rather than the uterus. The fetus was, at this point, 6 weeks old; had a heartbeat. One surgery and two painful days later, we’re back home today. This is bittersweet news because although the loss is extremely saddening, we now know that we’ve got a fertile set of future parents, and a faith that God is in control of our situation.
Leah is doing well, recovery from the anesthesia kicked her butt during the first day of recovery, but right now she's just dealing with some pain from the surgery itself. Thank God for pain meds!
This week has only brought my wife and I closer together. Though it’s been an emotional rollercoaster, we’ve been in constant contact with those we love about what’s going on, and hope that our story can have a direct (or indirect) positive impact on another young couple.
God is good!
I leave you with this:
The "D" Word
Some branches at the DePeña backyard.
I'm a devout Christian. When you're in a crew like mine, marriage is serious business. The big scary word that one is often advised to eliminate from one's vocabulary is divorce. Yeah, I said it. Divorce with a capital "D." It really does have a dark/painful sound. It's like a merging of "divide" and "force." Yuck.
I think it's safe to say that I have a Bachelor's Degree in Leahology. (Leah is my wife. She does makeup. Check out her website). I'm working on my Master's, I'm no expert, but I'm getting there. There's love, laughter, the occasional fight, yet an understanding that we have each other's back forever.
The rule of thumb for determining whether a married couple is considered "newlywed" is 3 years. At this point, the "spark" is often gone or changed. Couples often think about or starting to procreate. Usually, a couple has been together for 5+ yrs (if you include dating/engagement). With all that going on, divorces happen around this time. A LOT.
What I'm happy about right now is acknowledging the fact that divorce is the furthest thing from us. We're about as likely to split up as the chances of me eating a door. It's just not going to happen. For this, I am grateful.
Thoughts on Google Inbox by Gmail
I never leave unread emails lying around. I'm not one of those ppl with 2,000 unread emails. If an email comes in, and I know I don't need it, it gets trashed. If I don't have time to read it, but know i probably should, it gets starred. If I need to read it, and that's the end of it, I just read it and move on. I do no filing, just deleting, reading, and starring. I use a special "view" in Gmail to keep all starred emails on top. If you're not a gmail person, it's the same as flagging. Basically there is always three piles of email: The unread pile at the very top, starred emails under that, and everything else at the bottom.
"Inbox" only does two things.
#1: it creates a new folder for you. When looking at your email thru Inbox, it's a container called "Done". All of your marked or unread emails stay visible. If you're done with it, you swipe it away, and it gets hidden in the "Done" folder. This kinda merges the function of a To-do list and your email. In fact, Inbox allows you to create "Reminders", which is almost like emailing yourself, then flagging the msg.
#2: it has a snoozing feature. You can make an email hide in a "Snooze" folder for a defined period of time (24 hours, a week, etc.)
The only thing about Inbox is that in order for it to make sense, I had to do some house-cleaning. Remember my big three piles of email? Well pile #3 was all the "rest" of the email. I used inbox to swipe that entire pile into the "done" folder (it makes it relatively easy by allowing u to swipe a whole month away). Another issue is that it didn't automatically see my currently starred messages and pin them. I had to find them manually and pin them. I only had to do this once, and from that point on, all pinned msgs were syncing w/ the standard "flagging" system.
The biggest drawback on Inbox: Gmail has a huge support base for plugins n stuff, which i imagine don't work within Inbox's pretty interface. I however, a fan of simplicity and forward-movement, have been willing to deal with that (at least for the past week) in favor of a cleaner email system.
Home Media Setup (for laptop people)
I created a post a while back that has gotten a lot of attention from ppl who ask me how I do my home theater/media stuff. It's super detailed, get's updated regularly, and it's awesome. BUT it's mainly for ppl who have a desktop computer or server hangin out at home. Click here to check it out.
For the rest of you who just live your life off a laptop, here are is the same process, modified.
DISCLAIMER: This setup involves pirating. If you would prefer to pay for every single movie/song you ever watch, you can basically ignore this entire blog post and just buy an AppleTV. Use the iTunes store on it for renting and purchasing movies/music/etc. For TV shows, if you don't want to pay for CableTV, the AppleTV has an app called "HuluPlus" on it that costs $8/mo. Problem solved.
BUT, if you're not a millionaire and still want access to all the media in the world, read on.
BENEFITS:
IT'S EASY
The process for set up below appears to be "involved". But trust me, it's simpler than it looks, and most of the steps are things you only have to do ONCE. After it's set up, getting the movies/media you want is very easy. Let's just say that my wife downloads movies all the time.
NO MORE DISCS
I never have to go to a Redbox, in fact, we haven't watched a single DVD/Blu-ray for over a year.
THE VIDEO QUALITY IS AWESOME
Newsflash: DVDs are actually recorded in 480p resolution. Chances are, your TV does 1080p. This means that if you're still a DVD-watcher, you've been watching mediocre-quality stuff this whole time. Nooooo! Torrents/Plex allow for a setup for all of your content to be in Full HD.
NO MORE TV SCHEDULES
My wife and I watch little/no live TV, yet are still pretty caught up on shows we enjoy watching (Walking Dead, Parks & Recreation, etc.)
NO MORE MOVING FILES / SYNCING
I never have to copy/move files from one device to another (let's just say i haven't sync'd my iPhone in about 2 years).
IT'S CHEAP
The monthly costs for all of this is very very low, and I can pick and choose what I want, unlike Cable TV service which basically forces you to have every channel (I have no CableTV service).
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WHAT YOU NEED:
- An HDTV: If it has an HDMI port, you'll be fine. HDMI ports look like this.
- Your laptop: It doesn't have to be a great laptop.
- An internet connection: Preferably a good one
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GET PLEX HOME THEATER
1a. Organize your media
Create a "movies" folder and a separate "TV Shows" folder on your external hard drive. You may also want to create an "Other Videos" folder. If you already possess some video files, throw them in there.
2a. Install Plex Home Theater (get it here)
This software presents your computer's stored media in a way that's "TV-friendly". When it's originally set up, it will ask you where the folders are (from step 1a). You will see an option to add a "Home Movies" section in Plex. I use the "Other Videos" folder for that. (There are specific reasons for this, and you will soon see why).
NOTE: Plex has an option for adding a "Music" section. I would advise against this since it just doesn't work very well. It does have an option for adding an iTunes "channel". In my experience, it works beautifully.
3a. Set up your computer to never sleep (optional)
May be annoying to watch a movie and then the laptop falls asleep.
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ACQUIRE YOUR MOVIES/TV SHOWS
1b. Install a torrent client on your computer
Mac users should use Transmission. Windows users, i suggest qBittorrent.
2b. Get your movies/TV shows
My go-to source is http://www.thePirateBay.org . You simply make a search, click the "SE" column in the search results to sort by Seed, and click the little magnets when you see what you like. "Seeds" are sources of the file you want. The more "Seeds", the faster the download.
3b. Pay close attention to download destinations
When you click on the little magnets from step 2b, your torrent client will automatically open up and begin the download. Make sure that you download to the appropriate folders from step 2a.
PIRATEBAY PRO-TIPS
- Get Chrome here, and add this extension to block ads.
- Add "720p" or "1080p" to your searches, and pay close attention to the file size listed for each search result. Usually the best quality is between 1GB-3GB. Anything more than 3GB is usually very high-quality, but often not enough of a difference to be noticeable. However, the really big files, (≥4GB 1080p) often have awesome 5.1 surround sound. For movies like Star Wars, it's worth the wait. NOTE: HD TV shows are pretty much always 720p.
- Avoid search results that say "TS", "HDTS", "Telesync" or "CAM". This means that it's recorded in the movie theater with some dude's camcorder. Like those DVDs u buy in Chinatown. It's not worth it. Just wait for the date the movie is released for rental. On that day, PirateBay will have delicious 720p/1080p versions of the movies you want.
- Add the year to the movie you're searching for. Sometimes it makes life easier. Example: Searching for "Batman 1995" will get you Batman Forever. "Batman 1992" would be Batman Returns. Don't know the year? Wikipedia.
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WATCH YOUR MOVIE/TV SHOW
1c. Open Plex Home Theater
2c. ENJOY
To get new movies/TV shows, just repeat steps 2b + 3b.
Don't know what to watch? Check these lists:
My week on an Android phone
Let me school you a bit on how these touchscreen keyboards work. As you're typing, the actual input zones of each letter key changes in size. For example, if you type "T-I-M-", and then aim for the "W" key, the phone may think you actually meant to hit the "E" key, since it's more likely that you're typing "TIME" rather than "TIMW". Basically, the size of your finger means nothing. The keys may appear to be small, but they are actually (invisibly) getting pretty huge as the software predicts your text. This is why even the fattest of the fat have no trouble typing in smartphones. Apple has been working on this same keyboard for 2007, back when people still preferred their nasty Blackberry keyboards. They have been perfecting this system for far longer than Swiftkey or Swype or Google.
But dude... the dictation on Android is just sick...
The Moto X has that thing where you just say "OK Google now, etc." and it starts taking commands. The problem with this is that Google Now is kinda slow. First it deciphers what you just said, writes it out, then starts to think about what it's going to do. Siri is much faster than this, and does it well. Yes, the "always listening" thing is nifty, but the overall package just isn't totally there. I don't foresee this staying like this forever. I can imagine it speeding up in the future and it becoming much more useable.
USER INTERFACE
DUDE. Android is fugly. This may not seem important to you, but it should be. My phone, my chair, my bed, and my desktop keyboard are probably the things that I spend the most time on throughout the day. They need to be comfortable. They need to be stable. They need to be well-designed.
Yes, Android lets you tweak stuff. It's like buying a partially baked pizza crust. You can put whatever you want in it and make something tasty. Unfortunately, the Google Play store is like... Pathmark. The ingredients are meh, and your end result may or may not be desirable (even though you may think your home-made Kraft Mac&chz with sriracha is amazing)... imagine that iOS is like a meal that's already made, and was created by a 60 yr old 5-star chef. No, you can't really change it much, but man.. you KNOW it's going to flavorful and balanced. This is where the real problem lies, as well as Google's ultimate strength:
SOFTWARE VS. SERVICES
Google provides the best services in the world. I use their Gmail, GDrive, GWallet, Hangouts, etc. In fact, i SWEAR by this stuff. I use iCloud for basically nothing except FindMyiPhone. Google provides better SERVICES than Apple. Hangouts is far superior to FaceTime/iMessages, having an @icloud.com email looks whack, iWork-online is trash compared to GDrive-GDocs. The only problem is that ALL of these services, including Google Now (even voice commands), Google Maps, Hangouts, etc. are ALL available on the Apple App Store. And they all work amazingly well, as if they were native apps.
Facebook on Android was so buggy. Why in the world would the most popular app ever made be THIS buggy? Even Google Chrome on the iPhone runs more smoothly than Chrome on Android. Why is this? It comes down to how iOS is designed. It's sandboxed and limited in it's tweakability, but it's a tradeoff for stability and ease of use. Also, what's up with all this junk from Motorola on the MotoX? I thought it was supposed to be "mostly" vanilla? I could just the imagine the bloatware and TouchWiz mess on the GS4. Yuck. In closing, Googles services are better than Apples, but Apple's software and they way they handle third party software is far superior.
Oh and the notification thing in Android was bananas. I loved that thing. However, I really don't need 5 icons each showing me their dumb faces on the top bar, letting me know i have a notification. A number would suffice. Again, poor UI design, but was negligible nonetheless.
THIRD PARTY SUPPORT
There's statistics that show that most Android users are dumbphone users. What this means is that they're mostly doing dumb stuff like texting/calling/facebooking but not really using apps or browsing as much as iOS users. This is the reason why third party developers tend to pay more attention to the iOS versions of their stuff over Android. Even with the huge Android market share, your app is more likely to be downloaded and actively used by an iOS user over an Android user. It's also the reason why there are so many iPhone peripherals in comparison to Android peripherals. I don't think I've ever even seen a Micro USB boombox dock... (not that i would use one lol).
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: THIS WHOLE "FLAT DESIGN" THING
I remember when iOS came out, there was all this stuff about it being like Android by design. This is just false. Let's start with a quick lesson on skeuomorphism.
Skeuomorphism is basically when a software dude designs stuff in a digital medium to look non-digital. Like the way the Notes app on iPad used to look like a "real" notebook. Some people are into this look. In fact, Android has it all over the place. This icon looks like a real envelope. These headphones look kinda realistic as well. It's skeuomorphism at its best. It is NOT "flat" design.
I'm a fan of consistency. It's the reason why I hate the two-facedness of Windows8. To me, the disparity of Android's beautiful home button and settings UI compared to all the skeumorphistic icons, in combination with a disagreeing of fonts between Android and Motorola services, as a designer, made me bonkers. Design and typography are like voices or dialects in the visual world. Android felt like I was being presented stuff by 5 different ppl. It's a total mess.
--
In conclusion, it's easy to see that I prefer having an iPhone over an Android phone. Maybe now you can see why. Some of what I said can probably be perceived as fanboyism... but unless you've really tried both with as much in-depth analysis as I have, u may think twice about your own prejudices. Let me know what you think!
Home media server
NOTE: This setup involves pirating. If you would prefer to pay for every single movie/song you ever watch, you can basically ignore this entire blog post and just buy an AppleTV. Use the iTunes store on it for renting and purchasing movies/music/etc. For TV shows, if you don't want to pay for CableTV, the AppleTV has an app called "HuluPlus" on it that costs $8/mo. Problem solved.
BUT, if you're not a millionaire and still want access to all the media in the world, read on.
So...
I get a lot of questions about my awesome home media system. Here are the perks...
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BENEFITS:
- IT'S EASY
The process for set up below appears to be "involved". But trust me, it's simpler than it looks, and most of the steps are things you only have to do ONCE. After it's set up, getting the movies/media you want is very easy. Let's just say my wife downloads movies all the time.
- NO MORE DISCS
I never have to go to a Redbox, in fact, we haven't watched a single DVD/Blu-ray for over a year.
- THE VIDEO QUALITY IS AWESOME
Newsflash: DVDs are actually recorded in 480p resolution. Chances are, your TV does 1080p. This means that if you're still a DVD-watcher, you've been watching mediocre stuff this whole time. Nooooo!
- NO MORE TV SCHEDULES
My wife and I watch little/no live TV, yet are still pretty caught up on shows we enjoy watching (Walking Dead, Parks & Recreation, etc.)
- WORKS EVERYWHERE
I can watch whichever movie/show that has ever existed at any time, whenever I want, from whichever device i want, from wherever it may be. (Living room, on my commute, traveling, etc.)
(The same above statement is true about music.)
- NO MORE MOVING FILES / SYNCING
I never have to copy/move files from one device to another (let's just say i haven't sync'd my iPhone in about 2 years).
- IT'S CHEAP
The monthly costs for all of this is very very low, and I can pick and choose what I want, unlike Cable TV service which basically forces you to have every channel (I have no CableTV service).
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WHAT YOU NEED:
- An HDTV
If it has an HDMI port, you'll be fine. HDMI ports look like this.
- A computer
It doesn't have to be a great computer. For this system, a computer that never gets moved works best, though it'll work fine with your laptop. It can be a Mac/PC/whatever.
- An external hard drive
The bigger, the better. If your computer has hi-speed connections liks USB 3.0, FireWire 800, or eSATA, get an xhdrive that supports it.
- An internet connection
Preferably one that isn't AOL :-)
- A Plex-connected device
Examples: a newer Apple TV (2015 or later), Roku, PS4, PS3, Xbox360/One, LG/Samsung SmartTV. My fav is the Apple TV (2015) due to it having the best app store and Siri.
PRO-TIP:
- My system works very well because I rely very little on wireless connections. I have all of my devices (my appleTV, my computer, etc.) physically connected with Ethernet cables. Yes, I have long cables running along the wall moldings at my house. It's much less obtrusive than you think.
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SET UP PLEX:
1a. Get a myPlex account.
It's free. Do it here.
2a. Organize your media
Create a "movies" folder and a separate "TV Shows" folder on your external hard drive. You may also want to create an "Other Videos" folder. If you already possess some video files, throw them in there.
3a. Install Plex Media Server on your computer.
This software streams your computer's stored media to other connected devices. When Plex Media Server is originally set up, it will ask you where the folders are (from step 2a). You will see an option to add a "Home Movies" section in Plex. I use the "Other Videos" folder for that. (There are specific reasons for this, and you will soon see why).
NOTE: Plex has an option for adding a music section. I would advise against this since it just doesn't work very well. It does have an option for adding an iTunes "channel". In my experience, it works beautifully.
Get Plex Media Server here.
4a. Set up your computer to never sleep.
Yes, your mind still thinks it's 2001 when computers consumed lots of electricity. But this simply isn't true anymore. This setting needs to be on in order to always have access to the media. It's going to be ok. I promise.
5a. Install/open Plex on your device
It's a different process for each device, but on the Roku3, you just navigate to the "Channel Store" and search for Plex. Add the channel, and you're good to go. Process is similar for PS3, and on an LG Smart TV, they call it a "smart library" or something like that. Apple TV has the app store; it's in there.
6a. Install Plex for your mobile devices
It'll be the best $5 you ever spend. Trust me. iOS/Android/Windows users get it here.
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ACQUIRE YOUR MOVIES/TV SHOWS:
1b. Install a torrent client on your computer.
Mac users should use Transmission. Windows users, i suggest qBittorrent.
2b. Get your movies/TV shows
My go-to source is http://www.thePirateBay.org . You simply make a search, click the "SE" column in the search results to sort by Seed, and click the little magnets when you see what you like. "Seeds" are sources of the file you want. The more "Seeds", the faster the download.
3b. Pay close attention to download destinations
When you click on the little magnets from step 2b, your torrent client will automatically open up and begin the download. Make sure that you download to the appropriate folders from step 2a.
PIRATEBAY PRO-TIPS
- Get Chrome here, and add this extension to block ads.
- Add "720p" or "1080p" to your searches, and pay close attention to the file size listed for each search result. Usually the best quality is between 1GB-3GB. Anything more than 3GB is usually very high-quality, but often not enough of a difference to be noticeable. However, the really big files, (≥4GB 1080p) often have awesome 5.1 surround sound. For movies like Star Wars, it's worth the wait. NOTE: HD TV shows are pretty much always 720p.
- Avoid search results that say "TS", "HDTS", "Telesync" or "CAM". This means that it's recorded in the movie theater with some dude's camcorder. Like those DVDs u buy in Chinatown. It's not worth it. Just wait for the date the movie is released for rental. On that day, PirateBay will have delicious 720p/1080p versions of the movies you want.
- Add the year to the movie you're searching for. Sometimes it makes life easier. Example: Searching for "Batman 1995" will get you Batman Forever. Batman 1992 is Batman Returns. Don't know the year? Wikipedia.
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WATCH YOUR MOVIE/TV SHOW
1c. Make sure Plex Library is updated.
Click the Plex icon, and click Update Library. If you have downloaded any new movies/shows, Plex will recognize them. Click here to see how it's done.
2c. Open Plex on your TV or mobile device
On the mobile device, it'll have you log in with the info from step 1a.
3c. ENJOY
To get new movies/TV shows, just repeat steps 2b + 3b.
Don't know what to watch? Check these lists:
So your hard drive just died...
Second time, it was an external that just fell off a desk. I cried. 1 terabyte (about 1024GB). Lost.
Third time, another external hard drive died for no apparent reason. It'd just reached the end of its life.
At this point, I had learned my lesson. All. Hard drives. Die. It has nothing to do with how careful you may be, or how safe the drive is, or how expensive or cheap your drive is. These drives are mechanical, and do eventually die. It's important to keep in mind that any and ALL data on this drive WILL eventually be lost. Think about it that way. Whether it's on the internal drive of your computer, or on the external, it WILL get lost.
UNLESS...
You keep a copy.
Making copies is tedious, and even software that does it automatically isn't 100%. It also means you have to purchase a second drive just to hold the copy. I personally don't like doing this, but if you're fine with it, you can stop reading this post.
My solution goes as follows:
The first, easiest, and most important storage solution everyone must have is some basic cloud storage.
Store your documents and anything important on Google Drive, Dropbox, Skydrive, wherever. If you're smart, you'll pay the $5/mo to increase your Google drive storage to 100GB. Move your photo library onto the Google Drive folder, as well as your documents folder on the computer. Always save stuff to this folder, always work off the folder. The day your internal hard drive dies (and trust me, it WILL), you will still have all your stuff safe and sound in Google Drive.
For most people, this will suffice.
For those of you who have large libraries of massive stuff (sound libraries, HD video footage, etc.), you will need to invest in some kind of big fat RAID box. I use a Drobo Mini. It takes four hard drives. It's great. After buying a few terabyte hard drives to fill it, you'll end up spending about $800, but these advanced gizmos have self file-copying technologies, so when one drive dies (and it WILL), you won't actually lose any data. You just need to go out and buy another drive to replace the dead one, and it'll be back up and running, with all your files intact. This is AWESOME.
Anyone with irreplaceable files that you never want to lose (photos, videos of your family, songs you've recorded, any files you're getting paid to work with, etc.) should at LEAST have a basic paid Google Drive account (or similar).
Just remember. All the hard drives in your home/office. (Internal, external, etc.)
WILL
EVENTUALLY
DIE.
Beginning Photography Lenses
A question I get a lot from beginners is what kind of equipment they should buy next.
There's a few things one should know about the gear they have with the first camera they buy.
1. There's a good chance your camera came with an 18-whatever mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens. There's a lot I can say about focal lengths, and aperture, etc., but I'm going to boil it down to this: The smaller the f-stop, usually the better the lens. Having to be at 18mm just to get an f-stop of 3.5 is not great. Low f-stops means more light coming into the camera and more bokeh (that dreamy blurry-background look).
2. Zooming doesn't just makes things seem closer or farther. Zooming in and out actually changes the apparent shape of your subject.
Try this: zoom all the way out to 18mm and take a picture of your buddy, with their face filling the frame, head to chin. Then zoom all the way in as far as your lens will allow, and take the same photo with the same framing (you will have to step back).
You will see a difference that looks like this:
In conclusion, buy one of two lenses: a 35mm or 50mm prime.
Prime lenses don't zoom, but the trade-off is a lens that takes amazingly sharp images (much sharper than the lens your camera came with) and great low-light and bokeh performance.
What does this mean?
The lens works well in dark situations.
Here's a photo i took with the lights off in my living room and no flash.
And for bokeh, here's an example
WHAT TO BUY
For Canon users:
- The super popular nifty-fifty, plastic-fantastic: the 50mm f/1.8
It's a must-have for Canon users. I think it's their cheapest lens, but it takes some stunning images.
- OR for a comfy walk-around lens, the coolest little pancake, the 40mm 2.8
It's a comfortable focal length, and at f/2.8, bokeh is definitely possible.
For Nikon:
The 35mm 1.8G or 50mm 1.8G
Wife and i made some bread
Bread makes you fat, so my suggestion is as follows:
Buy a 2 lb bag of all-purpose flower, and seriously don't buy any bigger.
Otherwise, you will end up making a bunch of bread and you will gain 14 lbs guaranteed.
Anyway, recipe (as stolen off my buddy Evan Santiago) is as follows:
Stuff you need:
- 1.5 tb Quick-rise yeast (i used this)
- 2 lb bag of of all-purpose flour (6.5 cups)
- 1.5 tb salt
- 3 cups water
- butter
- a lil canola oil
- bread pan. Forgot what size ours is. It's like the size of a shoe.
1. Yeast + salt + water into bowl. Let it sit 5min, or until it bubbles.
2. Throw in the flour. Grease up a fork with some canola oil and mix it all up. Mix it real good.
3. Cover your dough (leave a crack). Let your dough sit for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 450, bake for 35min.
5. Let the bread cool for a few min and cut it with a serrated knife. Don't push on it, saw it downnn.
6. Eat your bread, but not all of it, cuz you'll get fat.
7. Bake the second batch of dough, but give it all away. Don't be a fatty.
Back up or else
This has happened to me about 4 years ago. I keep my iPhoto library on an external hard drive, and when it happened the first time, I had a backup on a second drive. Honestly, i had no idea, and I almost cried with excitement, and of course, i did not learn from this crisis, and continued to live my life with only one copy of my files.
Years later, in 2012, my hard drive started actin up. It happened again. And this time, there was no true backup. I post a LOT of my pictures on Facebook, and I sync my iPhone with about a year's worth of pictures, so it's not like everything was totally gone. But this was definitely a wake-up call for me. It's time to get serious about back up. And i don't mean back up as in putting things on hard drives (which can all be lost in a fire), I mean serious off-site back up in a cloud somewhere.
So the big choices are the following:
Box.com
DropBox
Mozy
iCloud (from Apple)
SkyDrive (from Microsoft)
Google Drive
Let's go over my basic needs:
1. I don't want a backup solution that requires me to remember to click on something, or drag something somewhere, etc. I have a bad memory and poor discipline for these things. (Imagine putting it off for months, and losing an entire summer trip's worth of photos).
2. I would like a desktop Mac client, i.e., software that I can install on my computer that works in the background and is regularly syncing my files to the cloud server.
3. If i have to pay for service, it has to be as inexpensive as possible. And by that I mean single-digit cheap.
So let's go!
Box.com is awesome, but the Mac desktop client requires a Business account, which costs $15/mo. There's also the issue where Box doesn't allow files that are larger than 2GB, even on Business accounts, and that irks me. It should irk you too.
Cost: $15/mo (100GB)
DropBox is (for this purpose) even better than Box. You get a desktop client for free, and it works phenomenally well and seamlessly with Mac OS. But you only get a few GB with a free account, so upgrading will be necessary for storing your photo library (which you SHOULD do, because photos can NOT be recovered when your hard drive crashes. And it will.) The problem is that DropBox's prices aren't that great. Their cheapest paid service is $10/mo, and that's just not cuttin it for me.
Cost: $10/mo (100GB)
Mozy is super cool, and works just like DropBox, except their solution is more geared towards backup rather than just cloud storage. Their pricing is decent, but not the best.
Cost: $6/mo (50GB)
iCloud is made by Apple and therefore simple and amazing, and is actually surprisingly inexpensive. Unfortunately, their storage options (even their most expensive one at $100/yr) is only 50GB, which is just not enough for me. Also, they currently don't have an actual cloud storage solution (like a folder you can access files from).
Cost: about $8.33/mo (50GB)
SkyDrive is a Microsoft product. In my book, that makes them lose. But, in all seriousness, they probably have the best offering (even price-wise) on this list, but they force you to pay a yearly subscription in a lump sum if you're trying to get paid service, and their maximum storage capacity is 100GB (which is my personal minimum). My real reason for being against lump sums is that this market seems to change a lot, and new features come out for different providers. I wouldn't want to be stuck with the same obsolete service for a whole year.
Google Drive is my favorite. It's very cheap, and you don't have to pay in a lump sum like SkyDrive or iCloud. It has a desktop client that is identical to DropBox, but has the advantage of having an awesome web interface, which allows collaborative editing on documents (imagine 4 ppl working on the same document at the same time). Also, their maximum storage (if you ever feel the crazy need) is 16 TERAbytes. Woah.
Cost: $5/mo (100GB)
Google Drive = winner.
The middle part
Because first of all, statistically, it hasn't been all that long. Like two months. Which some may say is long, but most people blog a lot less frequently. So anyway, let my ramblings begin.
I feel that I have come to that point in my life (although I think it's been at that point already for a bit, I'd say 2 years), where the "middle" part of my life has passed. Even though I'm still in my mid 20's and it's more like I'm passed the first "quarter", I'd call it the middle, because frankly, everything after you get married just looks like one big chunk, and everything before is the piece that precedes marriage.
I originally got this idea from the Lion King. This dude starts off as a little cub, walking around, doin damage, etc. He meets Timon & Pumba, and then a montage happens where he crosses over that "middle" section. Apparently his teen years are so unimportant that all he does
is sing and dance with a meerkat and a warthog, and suddenly he has a big majestic mane and grows into adulthood. When he meets the girl, and beats up the bad guy, he becomes king, and the movie is over.
I think I beat up the bad guy in my life already. I know what you're thinking. But no I'm not saying that I totally rid Satan's goals of destruction over my life and that I'm holy. What I am saying is that the thing that has kept me from moving forward and taking my position
in life, fell off a cliff and was eaten by hyenas. I can finally go where God wants me to go, and be the man He wants me to be. Whether it means leading a worship team for an awesome
congregation in Jersey City, or king of the jungle with the elephants and baboons.
And now, there's the girl. Who I'll be marrying in May, and is by far the most beautiful person I have ever known, and is the best zebra hunter on the savannah. Somehow I'm more in love with her every day, and as the day of our wedding approaches, I can't help but be excited to see where else God will be taking me as the loving husband and priest-of-the-home I know He's called me to be.
So as you can see...
My middle-part-movie-montage-in-the-jungle-with-the-dancing-and-stuff
is over.
...
Now comes the sequel, right?
Steve Jobs 1955-2011
And then, it happened: I got a job at the Apple Store.
Yes, our engagement story involves a giant rat
So let's begin with setting the context. If you know about me and Leah, then you can probably just skip this paragraph. But let's face it: you won't skip this paragraph. Anyway, We started dating 9/24/2010, soon after her birthday (the 19th). We've had our ups and downs throughout the year, like any other relationship, faced the test of time and turbulence, and made it through. My favorite words to describe Leah are funny (with both meanings, like humorous and curiously interesting) and considerate. I'm not going to try to describe myself. Let's just say that me and Leah are the same in some areas, and completely opposite in others.
Anyway, so let's begin with Saturday afternoon, 9/17/11. It's Leah's birthday weekend, so I promised to take her out to the city (specifically Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum). My "secret" plan was to take her to central park, put her on a rowboat, and whip out the ring under the Bow Bridge (here's a pic >> http://bit.ly/r4KXaF), followed by an awesomely delicious meal at the super-fancy Loeb Boathouse Restaurant right next to the boat rental spot. That was the plan.
Rulo Power
Over the past few days, he has made some interesting observations on some of my relatively Americanized attributes, particularly my lack of love for some of the more commonly enjoyed Dominican music. I'm also not into batata (basically a ghetto sweet potato) or other random vegetables.
Anyway, so he gave me a funny analogy for people like me -- he called me a "rulo".
One must take two things into consideration. First, to be aware that plantains are the biggest and most famous crops in Dominican Republic. They originally came from Southeast Asia, and are actually a mix between two types of random wild bananas. The word "platano" is pretty much synonymous with "dominican", especially as a word used by non-dominicans.
Then we have bananas, which are statistically the most popular fruit Americans eat. They're yellow. They're delicious.
A rulo is a special hybrid fruit. It's half plantain, half banana. But it still treated and cooked like a plantain.
So Americanized Dominicans are "rulos".
Ya tu sabe. Rulo Power!
Runnin on empty
Jackie chan is such a beast. This dude is literally older than my mom, and can backflip around like a maniac.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that I want to be able to accomplish something without the actual fuel or measurable energy needed to make it happen. Like people who are able to pull off getting into places without paying, or accomplish a lot with half the effort. It’s not laziness. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. I want to be productive, I want to be efficient. The best analogy is the simple machine, like a pulley. One is able to accomplish more while inputing less.
This relates to a sermon series my pastor was applying these past few weeks (before the whole church flew to D.R. for Josue’s wedding). Basically it’s about power vs authority. Someone possessing power has the ability to buy a jet and fly in it. A person with authority is a lot cooler. He gets jets brought to him. For all we know, the dude is broke. In fact, the highest government authority in this country, the President, lives like a king, but his salary is actually less than a surgeon. But can the surgeon command an army? Probably not.
One alarm
In high school, my schedule was pretty consistent. School started at 8:25am, let out at 3:05, then had band practice til 4pm. I spent my weekends and off-time either at church, or doing homework. This was actually the same routine I followed since I was 4yrs old. For twelve years this was my life until I moved to Boston. Everything changed in college.
In college, I had classes scheduled that would start at 1pm, would last 2hrs, followed by a 3hr gap until my last class at 6pm. Maybe the next day I had all my classes piled up Mondays, and was busy from 9am to 9pm. Some semesters I purposely avoided scheduling classes on Friday so as to ensure I always had a 3-day weekend. My schedule was as inconsistent as a retail employee. And on top of all this, I worked jobs to pay my expenses. My alarm in the morning was my scheduler. Some days I could sleep in, other days I could not. I had a different alarm setup for each semester.
When I graduated college, this didn't really change much. I would either schedule time to meet with an artist for production, or had to get up and work whatever day job I may've had. The worst was working at UPS. I'd get home after midnight, was in bed by 3am. I'd wake up at noon, to then spend 3 hrs doing whatever I had to do to, and then was back on the bus heading out to be at work by 4. It was horrible. It felt like living at my job. And my home sucked.
And finally, after years of schedule craziness, I can finally say I only have one alarm in my phone. Sundays church starts at 9am, as does my (current) job. This means waking up at 7:30 every morning with only Saturday as an exception. It's week 1 for me on this normal American-style rhythm. We'll see how week 2 feels.