Thanks for the encouragement! I miss your updates on that blog. It was good even if you and I were the only ones reading it.

I’m just not good with names in general either. Always easier to remember @Bertowud than your own name because the story behind that is so clear and memorable. Also it’s how a 4-yr old could’ve said your name. So this morning’s trigger was remembering “ISAM – Sam I am”! I always thought this is what Dr Seuss would say about the old database technology called ISAM (used by the driver) and he would also say “And now boys and girls, I is for Install” and then I knew oh yeah “pvxiosvr -i”. Lame and udderly stupid but it was my trigger and everything subsequent to that I recalled instantly. I started conversation with IT guy looking lame but I left looking smart.

I have to create more triggers like you do. I’m really good with visual association for memory recall and I think subconsciously I do some chunking (alliteration, rhyming, allusions to songs and movies) but w/o the trigger the later instant recall doesn’t come so quick. Great article! Thanks for posting a self-help Bertowud’s advice column on Super Hero Garage. This and the Poe one are your best I think.

And no matter your audience size keep writing for your own behalf! This weekend I had half-way taken down Ruminations of Alnoor private blog you helped me setup. Was about to delete the whole thing as it was about a past chapter but then I read my own posts and could not believe I had the capacity / capability of writing personal content like that and in such a meaningful way. I had forgotten how important it was for me to write and “get it out there”. It was important so I didn’t delete.

So for you, keep writing, keep shipping like your friend Seth Godin says. Keep reacting to a single inspirational comment or question someone asks you in personal or work capacity and make that your topic. You’ll look back on your content years later and feel content, methinks. When you can’t come up with topics, you can always resort to movie or book reviews.

Man, to this day I still wish there was a local Waffle House!

I’ll have to remember to change the byline next year. 🙂

For me at the moment, it’s about forming the habit of getting something out there. I’m just going to have to suck it up and let a few not quality material posts go.

We can certainly try to keep each other accountable.

As for my daughter making a banner, she will have to wait until the computer she broke gets back from being repaired. #SoMuchTrouble

No matter how often (or not) you may have a failure to ship you will have that at least.

The Scott Adams analogy is impressive and your basis for shipping regularly but seems like a thought process hard to execute at least for me. It’s that balance of quality vs quantity we are a bit better at now that used to be 90/10 in favor of quality.

I have to make the same decision for myself for my own work blog articles else it will never materialize (I will have failed) even though I’m supposed to do one every fortnight. I’m glad you’re doing this. Maybe we can help each other.

Best of luck with your endeavor my friend. I will endeavor to provide a pithy reply when you post. Secretly I’d rather have your ability to respond with a witty rejoinder.

Have your daughter make a MUST SHIP banner reinvigorate your motivation after a couple of weeks have peeled off and normal day to day weariness kicks in.

Is this the modern Tell-Tale Heart or what?

Ask Kizer about Jake. But only if you’re prepared for a rant. 🙂

Th ukulele has a very interesting sound. He’s playing a tenor uke. I like the sound of it a lot. He’s getting pretty decent.

He’s left handed and we’ve chosen to have him learn to play right handed with the thought being to have the more dexterous hand doing the chords. The other side of that is, I think he may have a little more problem keeping his right hand strumming while changing chords but that will be easier to overcome with time.

1) At a post funeral gathering for my friend’s dad and mom who both had recently passed away. The purpose was to gather family and friends and celebrate their life (instead of mourn their death). One of the friends of the family (or maybe it was an extended family member) she sang and played Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” on the uke. It was tear jerking but so enjoyable!

2) Recently at Bill Kizer’s end of summer party. In between the set of a very pleasant and talented duo playing Hawaiian tunes, Bill gave his own uke to Malia and told everyone to get ready for quite a treat. She is the 9 year old (9 I think) neighbor’s daughter with a lot of raw musical talent. She played Ho Hey by The Lumineers. In the way we love our children and root for their success is the way I listened to Malia play and sing her heart out. OMG what a treat that was.

I hope Alex is enjoying his uke lessons.

I still have nightmares about the Tell-Tale Heart and Fall of the House of Usher.

The reason I like Gold-Bug so much is that it was a mystery and not a real horror story. It was about secret messages and encryption. It’s really good stuff. One of the things I didn’t include, because it didn’t fit the story I was trying to tell, Poe was into encryption in a big way.

Not only do I remember cassettes. We had an 8-track in at least two of the vehicles we had when I was a kid.

Not a fan of the dark and grim, but his writing was heart pounding entertainment and in the form of poems! My favorites were The Raven and The Cask of Amontillado. I am so thankful that my high school taught Poe in the lit classes.

At the time the music band Alan Parsons Project (APP) did an album dedicated to Poe called Tales of Mystery and Imagination. It was short musical storytelling and entertainment and clearly a lot of talented production in the album. But it was uncool in high school to say “Yeah I bought APP instead of the Zeppelin album” but I was/am an odd duck anyway. The Raven song alone is worth a listen to on YouTube if you’ve never heard. Side 2 of the cassette (eh ehm remember those) was entirely The Fall of the House of Usher. I’m sure portions of the album have been used as soundtrack material for Poe stage dramas.