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What would I tell my 15 year-old self, if I could?

Tom Carroll — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:58:03 +0000

This exercise was put forth over at Gapers Block. I found the comments very interesting seeing a mix of shared insight, missed opportunity and painful regret. So I thought really hard what I would tell myself, and I realized I wouldn’t focus on any one event. I find my missed opportunities and my past transgressions make me and I prefer to live in the present.
But if I could, I would tell the 15 year old me:

Put more at risk.
Always look for the good in people.
When you commit to something give yourself completely.
Breath, be still and don’t worry so much.
(okay one specific event)Go to the Nirvana Concert!!!!!!!!

More importantly,
If I really could I would tell the 10 year old me, don’t play king of the dumpster, don’t push your sister.

My list of companies that make bags for MacBooks

Tom Carroll — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:08:12 +0000

I am looking for a bag to carry my 15″ MacBook Pro. I really don’t like reading all the comments so I consolidated all the links I found on the web. The only commentary I have on all the bag makers below is, I have owned a Brenthaven bag for nearly 5 years and I give it very high marks.

http://www.spireusa.com/
http://www.pinderbags.com/
http://www.acmemade.com/
http://www.sfbags.com/
http://www.sjdesign.com/
http://www.booqbags.com/
http://www.timbuk2.com/
http://www.marware.com/
http://www.tombihn.com/
http://www.brenthaven.com/
http://www.mac-case.com/
http://store.mozilla.org/
http://www.ogio.com/
http://www.crumplerbags.com/
http://thenorthface.com
http://www.axio-usa.com/
http://www.tumi.com/
http://www.goincase.com/
http://www.be-ez.com/
http://www.radtech.us/
http://www.case-mate.com/
http://www.iskin.com/
http://www.pakuma.com/
http://www.keenfootwear.com/
http://www.jansport.com/
http://www.targus.com/
http://www.patagonia.com/ via Cote
http://www.acmemade.com/
http://alchemygoods.com/
http://www.freitag.ch/
http://www.boblbee.com/

My twitter Wishlist

Tom Carroll — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:12:49 +0000

Here are two Twitter bots I would love to see:

Google search history bot posts at random my search queries every hour or so.
FedEx tracking bot send it the tracking number and it twitters the location of your package.

Things that chew up my attention

Tom Carroll — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:44:06 +0000

Keeping My iPod updated
Paying for my gas, (No! I don’t want to buy a car wash, No! I don’t want a receipt, Do I ever choose anything but 87 octane)
Buying anything at CDW.com (But I still love the company)
Television (I know I need tivo, heck I need digital cable)
The weirdness that is Google reader (Love, hate. aaahh!)
Link wandering (I have found great stuff but it takes forever)
My corporate calendar (no mobile integration)
Ubuntu, switch and you will know what I mean (Mac here I come, as soon as I save my pennies)

Attention what do I value most

Tom Carroll — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 04:07:48 +0000

I value:

people, products and services that make my attention efficient and effective.
attention I receive from others and wish to make their attention efficient and effective.
title to, access to and control of my attention artifacts.
those who recognize that attention exchanges are and should always be symmetrical.

Silos that house my attention data

Tom Carroll — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 05:27:50 +0000

So I just thought I would list out where some of my attention data is stored, definitely not an exhaustive list and not in any order. This list just screams opportunities for attention efficiency, forget paying me for my attention data just let me be more efficient with it.

Where is your attention data stored?

I invite you to create your own lists in the comments section or trackback your list. I am interested to see where all our attention data goes.

Google
My VOIP provider
Coremetrics
Blockbuster
Safeway
Credit Cards (multiple Parties, I worked in the industry and it would scare you the amount of data they have)
Microsoft
ISP
Yahoo
eBay
Amazon
Cell phone provider
My employer
Local Government
Tollway authority
AOL
My hosting provider
Apple
My preferred airline
My preferred Hotel

Update:

Del.icio.us
Linkedin
Firefox
My Car
Flickr
Ofoto

List of languages I have programmed in

Tom Carroll — Mon, 22 May 2006 05:02:24 +0000

A list of languages I have had to code in. The list is in no particular order.

Perl
Java
Ruby
Basic
FOCUS
Fortran
COBOL
PL/1
Visual Basic

Most Popular Books at Java one: Update

Tom Carroll — Mon, 22 May 2006 04:45:58 +0000

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I thought I would update the list of best selling books at JavaOne. It was sad to see Ruby for Rails drop off the list. Looks like AJAX was a popular topic, taking 6 of the spots on the list.

Links:

Most Popular Books at Java one, originally uploaded by TomC.

My Interface Design Principles

Tom Carroll — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 05:52:09 +0000

I did some work on putting together a new interface design for an application. So, I thought I would provide my guiding principles.

“Information becomes the interface”, Edward Tufte in Visual Explanations p.142.
“OODA Loop” (Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action) By Col John Boyd, USAF (Ret).
Information displays should strive to be no wider than 16 choices and 2 levels deep.
Base change on real observed behavior. The qualitative can not eliminate the quantitative
To some degree the interface has to be stupid simple. The antithesis to this principle is demonstrated by some large ERP software vendors.
Do as much work beyond view of the customer as possible.
Icons are Iconic or they are not valuable.
Visual oriented communication occurs a faster rate and results in increased short term retention
Make help always available and obvious
Continuity Continuity Continuity
Empathy