I’ve been reading XKCD for a few years now, and have found their comics to always be a nice distraction from the otherwise busy work day.  Sometimes, among the many “good ones” there is an occasion “great one” that emerges.

Chances are if you’ve wandered across my blog you probably have an iPhone, Dare, Crackberry, or one of the other Smart Phones out there, and might even be planning on getting a Droid sometime soon. The below strip got a nice chuckle, got me thinking more about my upcoming Droid purchase, and sparked an interesting discussion with my latest roommate Ben.

The strip really struck me because of it’s Droid vs iPhone reference but also the quote in the middle panel. After the many conversations I’ve been having lately with my occasionally pseudo-philosophical roomie, this is a topic that comes up between us often.

Is it better to restlessly produce, or sedately consume?

What is your opinions on the topic?

Today, I came across a Facebook post by my buddy Matt Haydon. In it, he linked to Tim Ferris’ blog “The Four Hour Work Week” and one of the most recent episodes of the ‘China Trip’ Tim Ferris and Kevin rose have embarked upon. While familiar with Tim Ferris and Kevin Rose, their past works, speeches, and blogs.. the ‘China Trip’ was news to me. I’ve been busy with a lot of my own stuff recently (if you haven’t noticed by the complete lack of updates on here, sorry!) and hadn’t caught wind of this latest series.

After watching the episode Matt linked to, I was hooked. I have yet to read Tim’s “Four Hour Work Week” book but may have to give it a good thumbing-through soon. From watching the videos briefly, it was very apparent to me that a lot of the fundamentals I live by are being discussed in great detail by these two guys, I definitely need to read more about it. They are both very successful in the industry, and I (for my age) have been mildly successful in my own right. I doubt that is a coincidence.

Wanted to mention it on here and recommend it for your viewing pleasure. Lots of great conversation, ideas, and all-around good stuff here.

Pre-China Trip

The 4th Random Episode from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

First Random Episode

Random Episode in China from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

For more from Tim Ferris: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

For more from Kevin Rose: http://kevinrose.com/

Well, as the title gives away.. today was my birthday. I’ve been alive for 8,030 days! For those of you who dont want to hit the calculator key on your keyboard or bust out the cellphone, that’s 22 years. I’m practically ancient! Haha, ok not really. But I can’t look forward to 21 anymore, I’m engaged with a house and too many cars, and I’m really buckling down on my work. You could say I feel a lot older than I am. It’s nice to loosen up once in a while and just enjoy life. My birthday weekend was good times all around.

I got to spend time with Josie, my brother Joey, his girlfriend, and another couple (Ryan and Lea). Joey, having just gotten through an intense program for some stupid choices, just moved into my house and got himself hired at a a new job working for The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI for short). He’ll have his own office and makes a really good pay for someone his age so I’m really proud of him. He’s doing really well and I’m hoping with him moving in, he’ll keep it up.

This year was the first year I haven’t eaten “Wacky Cake” on my birthday. Now, you might be thinking, “what the heck is that?” or “So?”. But let me tell you this, you just have no clue. It’s a special chocolate cake my mom has been making for my dad every year for his birthday since I was a little kid (and then for my birthday as well starting around age 10 or so) . His mom used to make it for him when he was a kid, and his mom’s mom used to make it for her when she was a kid. One of those kinda things. It’s so freaking good you wouldn’t believe it. So, yeah.. believe it. This cake blows pretty much every other cake out the water. It’s simple but delicious. It’s eaten with whip cream and that’s it. I’ve thrown some strawberries in there a few times, but it’s just so good plain with whip cream you’d be amazed. My mom actually made me one, but I didn’t make it down to Lakeside today to pick it up. So I guess you could say it was my fault I didn’t have any wacky cake on my birthday. I missed out, haha.

All in all, even with no wacky cake, it was a nice, enjoyable, relaxing birthday. I pretty much just hung out around the house with Josie and lounged. We took a nice nap, lol (dang I feel old) and then went to her parent’s house for a Super Bowl BBQ. Macked down on some bbq beef sandwiches, cole slaw, macaroni salad, and chips and guacomole. Not my usual birthday routine but it worked out really well. It’s the end of my day, in fact, it’s 11:59PM as I’m writing this. So here’s to the end of a great birthday weekend. To many more!

I just watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I had heard good things about it which is why I decided to watch it in the first place. I had no idea what it was about going in. At first glance, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. However, as the movie rolled on, I found myself more and more engaged by the plot. This guy was going through some shit! It is a very good movie and I highly recommend it for anyone with some spare time on the weekend and a blank screen.

Buy Slumdog Millionaire on DVD | It’s worth it!

For the longest time, the Samsung SCH-u740 (or catchy “Verizon Alias”) was my idea of cellphone perfection. It’s sleak profile, full qwerty keyboard, and uber-leet bidirectional hinge, made it well.. too frickin cool for school. It might look like a Razr (ew) on first glance but next thing you know I have it folded out horizontally typing a txt message with both hands! People would freak all the time.. “Weren’t you just talking on that thing like a regular phone, what the HECK?!”

I loved peoples reactions to that phone. It wasn’t anything too complex or sophisticated but it still turned heads and was brilliantly convenient. Anyways, it still ranks rather high on my list but it has been replaced as my official day to day cellphone by the LG Dare.

When my roommate Ray Butcher moved in, I ended up being around the iPhone way more than I would’ve preferred. While pretty slick itself, the iPhone lacks several things that would’ve made it a winner in my book. Firstly, I will never (again) switch to AT&T/Cingular, and the fact that in default trim it can’t send or receive pics or video messages is just absurd.

One thing spending a lot of time around the iPhone DID do however is convince me I have to jump on the touchscreen bandwagon. By the time I played around with the Dare, I had owned an LG Voyager, an evolution of the EnV, for about six months. I liked the fact the Voyager was a touchscreen, but its bulky shape kept me from really being able to use it on a daily basis. It sat on my nightstand while the SCH-u740 got all the action. My phone goes in and out of my pocket a lot, so if its too big or clumsy.. it just ain’t happening.

I went into the Verizon store for a replacement Alias (u740) because the earpiece speaker went out. This actually happened on my first u740 which was only days old, so I wasn’t too surprised. A small price to pay for an otherwise awesome phone. The speakerphone still worked but that’s just obnoxious (and VERY inconvenient for making business calls). While the guy went in the back to check their stock I walked around the store checking out some of their newer model phones.

After looking around and playing with a bunch of other phones, an LG Dare finally found it’s way into my hands.. the rest is history. I started navigating through the interface and was very surprised to see how quick and responsive it was. I was sold within seconds of holding it.The salesman couldn’t know this though so I hastily planted the phone back on the display and waited for him to return from the back.

Sure enough, they were out of the Alias, it was destiny. He offered to have one overnighted from another store free of charge or I could go to another store downtown and pick one up. I declined and gave in, I had to ask him… whats the best deal he could work up for getting my hands on a new Dare. Luckily, my New-Every-Two promotion was only a month away on this line and he told me he could bump it up and have me chatting away on my new Dare for only $100 bucks above and beyond the NE2 credit.

This was a little more than I was looking to spend, afterall I had come in only looking for a working replacement of my favorite phone for the past 2 years. After some haggling, I agreed to let them tack an additional $150 onto my bill for that month. I walked out of the store with $60 worth of accessories, my new Dare, and a $50 mail in rebate. Not too shabby.

I love this phone, in fact.. I love it so much, I sold my Voyager on CraigsList and got another Dare for my second line! I’m letting Josie use it since we’re back together and I never really used that second line but dang… two Dares.. yeah buddy.

Holy crap, never thought I’d say that. Me and Josie started talking again and next thing I know I’m asking her to marry me. LOL omgz WUT?! Yeah that’s right, and she said yes. We agreed on a date sometime in 2010 when both of us are in better financial positions and ready to tie the knot. Craziness..  Just thought I’d let everyone know!

Already 12 days into the new year and I realized today I’ve yet to make a new post.. about anything. Usually this is about the time I’d sit here for a few minutes pondering a popular topic I could write about. However, that was the whole point of making this blog, to just shoot the shit. So I guess I’ll unload some of the crap thats been going on in ChaseWorld(tm). <– lol.

This past month or so has been a little rough. Things are a little tighter than I’d like financially (going out on a limb with a few business ventures, hopefully they turn out well). As far as friends go, I’m pretty much sick of the drama from my latest group of friends. I need to ignore the group’s BS “I’m 20 something and I need to have as much fun as possible every weekend (and weeknights too)” mentality and just focus on myself, my company, and my projects.

This means I’ll be hanging out with people a lot less. It’s not that I don’t want to have fun, I do.. and believe me, I’ll have my fun. Besides.. getting drunk with a bunch of people regularly has never been my version of fun. So, I think I’ll do fine. I need to handle my responsibilities first and foremost and having people over or going out all the time doesn’t allow me to devote as much time as I need to my workload.

This last month or so I’ve felt like I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve realized a lot of things and taken the time to step back and reassess my life and goals. I have a problem with caring too much about what people are doing and what’s going on with them. They can go ahead and do what they want with their lives, I need do what I need to do.

Well I’m happy to announce I’ve found the perfect recording system for our budget and usage. Several of my clients have recommended Presonus to me in the past as the best recording equipment for the price.

After talking to Jaime Precado (from Pierce the Veil) the other day about what I’d be doing, and on what scale, he told me the Presonus Firebox is going to be my best bang for the buck. I was already looking at Presonus as my main option but he sealed the deal. He’s been doing home-studio recordings for bands on the side for years and he’s the master!

The Firebox has everything I need and is easily affordable at less than $300 bucks. Now that I actually have some people that want to record tracks, I figure it’s about time to pick one of these babies up!

The whole Senate seat scandal involving Rod Blagojevich and presidential-elect Barack Obama just has me shaking my head. I have seen firsthand how cut-throat political figures can be over the years and I have no doubt Obama’s rise to power didn’t come cheap.

The fact that Obama was receiving illegal campaign contributions through his website for close to a year and NOW this whole scandal.. it’s too blatantly obvious!

So who do I talk to about becoming president? I’ve got a blank check sitting right here!

The economy sucks right now and everyone is tight on cash. I’ve felt the squeeze and I’ve watched others around me freak out over it. There is a lot going on in the world right now and I know it makes me, and others, angry and stressed daily.

Unfortunately, the other day I watched one of my close friends experience a stress-induced anxiety attack that left him unable to speak and move without help for close to four hours. We thought he had experienced a heart attack but all his vitals were ok and the doctor concluded it was stress.

Just wanted to take a moment out of my day to tell everyone not to stress so much. It’s hard, and a constant task, but it’ll help you live a longer, happier life. I know even I fall victim to over-extending myself and spreading myself too thin which leaves me stressed and burnt. It’s just not worth it. We’re only here for so long, make the best of it. If you aren’t happy with the way your life is going, change it. You only get one life so live it up!