Author Archive

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

maximizing value and ease of decision: same hand, three different scenarios

last night when i went to the casino to play poker i ended up winning a pretty big pot by rivering quad queens over my opponent who had turned the nut flush, and as i replay the hand in my head it further enforces how slow-playing a strong hand is not always the best idea [...]

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Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

bored with mobile phones

verizon has been sending me emails saying that i now qualify for my “new every two”. i upgraded my work iPhone’s OS to 3.0.
neither of these things exicted me, and from this i think i’ve discovered that i’m pretty much over the newest mobile phone trend. i like having a phone on the [...]

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Thursday, June 11th, 2009

MyRate by Progressive – installing big brother on your car.

when i was renewing my car insurance, the rep over the phone clued me in to a new service that they’re offering called “MyRate”. it works like this:
you sign up for the MyRate plan. They send you a piece of hardware that you plug into your OBD-II port. According to the rep [...]

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Thursday, May 21st, 2009

the problem with anti-smoking

people that don’t know me that well could find it head-scratchable to hear “anti-smoking adverts make me want to start smoking” come out of my mouth, particularly given my history of asthma. i’ll admit that as a non-smoker it’s nice to be in a public place and not have to deal with a stale [...]

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Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

joining the iPhone revolution (with a tangent on music notation software)

for various reasons that would be highly tangental to this post, the tulane band staff recently got iPhones to use as work mobiles.
a few people who know me pretty well said, “it’s funny to think of you with an iPhone,” and it’s true. i’ve stated a few times on this poor excuse for a [...]

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Friday, December 19th, 2008

TMI in our digital age

i think most people would agree that i am generally an embracer of technology and the use of technology to enrich work, lives, arts, &c. in middle school and high school i was the geek who was addicted to video games, excited to learn how to use computers, and spent hours logging on to [...]

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Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Apple needs to fill the gap.

i have to give Steve Jobs props for revitalizing Apple as a dying company when he helped introduce all things iBrand back in the late 90’s and early 00’s. The first iMac was noteworthy for its attempt to make computers fashionable and helped to establish the momentum that paved the way to the iPod, [...]

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Friday, November 14th, 2008

shift in video game target audiences

video games have evolved a great deal since their introduction a few decades ago, and to me, the past couple of years have shown an interesting shift in the popular video game trend and its audience that feels like its bringing the entire history of video gaming around full circle.
in its infancy, “video game” meant [...]

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Friday, September 19th, 2008

the old versus new facebook generation (no, not the layout change)

Very recently more people from my high school years have been finding me on facebook and friending me. When this first started happening, i was wary to accept their requests, mainly because the people who i’m still friends with from my high school i still keep in contact with, so why would i start [...]

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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

initial conceptual thoughts/personal notes about my choir piece

it’s odd to think that my first “real” music project in several years is using an aesthetic that i’ve never felt comfortable with – singing and piano accompaniment. One of the last works i wrote as a masters student, Remembrance, is the only serious vocal piece i’ve ever written, and i think i got [...]

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