Chaosplay

I love magazines & been collecting these for years. But I rarely ever go back to read them again, so why keep these. From now on just gonna keep maximum of 2 issues of a publication except for American Photo which I am keeping all of.

The Eraser by Thom Yorke

Love the artwork. The Eraser by Thom Yorke.

Free drink coupon!

In order of me to achieve absolute minimalism, I will get rid off everything that I don’t use or want. I have decided to get rid off one major item every week, starting with this couch. I will either sell it or just throw it away.

So this couch is free, it’s sitting outside my apartment. Just take it, if you want it. I don’t want to sell it, since it’s not in a great condition. If this couch is in front of my apartment next Sunday, I will just throw in a dumpster. (I will also check with local charities, if they would like to pick it up.)

Frozen PS3 Screen

So I found this thread on Playstation Network forums. It looks like there many who are having same or similar issue with their PS3 as I. If you read that thread, the common denominator seems to be Sony’s latest updates (3.10 or 3.15). So if you haven’t installed latest PS3 update then don’t install it. Sony is asking for almost $150 to fix it but this seems ridiculous to me. If they broke it then they should fix it for free. I won’t pay to have my PS3 fixed, if Sony doesn’t release a fix soon or fix it for free, I will simply throw my PS3 in dumpster & buy Wii.

For me, PS3 runs fine for 10-20 minutes, then picture freezes but sound & controls keep working fine. DVD movies play just fine for hours, also I was able to backup & restore my data which took about 4 hours. For some, PS3 will lockup immediately or it wont recognize any Bluray disc but works fine with DVDs & music CDs.

Lack of Sony’s response to this issues, is really pissing me off. Sony will probably lose me as their customer for good.

Some people have recommended changing laser module in PS3.

I tried doing following steps that many people said fixed their issues. Unfortunately, they didn’t work for me.

1. Disable orange notification bar.
2. Disable media server.
3. Disable wifi.
4. Disable network completely.
5. Vacuum vents.
6. Re-seat harddrive.
7. Set PS3 vertically.
8. Try component cables instead of HDMI.
9. Double check that PS3 is well ventilated.
10. Reset to default settings.
11. Delete all game data.
12. Full format & reinstall system software.

I did all these steps but still my PS3 is locking up video. These steps might work for you, so try them. I don’t want to mess around inside PS3 but if you feel like it, try changing you lens module. There are several video tutorials on youtube for this.

Also if you are thinking of buying PS3, don’t buy a used one. I could easily sell mine to used video game stores if I want to. I don’t think they will test it long enough for it to freeze. Of course, I won’t do that but there might be some who would. If you do decide to buy used one, then test it, at least, for 30 minutes or longer.

I was so excited to play Heavy Rain. Since I rarely play my PS3, I had no idea it would just deteriorate while sitting and doing nothing. The stupid thing kept freezing on me.

It was weird display would freeze while music and controls keep working. Seems like GPU is overheating. May have to change the GPU fan.

Or maybe I will just throw it away. Don’t have time for video games.

Just saw this speech by Tynan. Love this guy’s philosophies.

Everyone knows taking risks is essential to live happily & fulfilled. But sometimes it can be very hard to determine if risk is worth the reward. I loved how Tynan broke down his process to evaluate a risk.

Basically you ask yourself 4 questions:

1. What is the worst possible scenario?
2. What is the best possible scenario?
3. Will I regret not doing it?
4. Will I regret doing it?

And then determine or guess the probability the best and good enough scenarios. So even if the probability is low but reward is big enough & more importantly regret of not doing it is high, then do it.

I loved how he used this to explain his logic on deciding if buying a school bus was a worthy risk.

Watch the video to really understand this concept & other great concept in it.

Tynan’s Speech: Not Taking Risks is Risky from Tynan on Vimeo.

I just read “The Art of Failure” by Malcom Gladwell, a short article in “What the Dog Saw.”

Do you know there are two types of learning? Explicit is when you are learning something new by taking instruction. For example, taking tennis lessons, initially you will learn different strokes, when to use them, etc.

At the same time you are learning subconsciously. This is Implicit learning. A different part  of your brain is involved in implicit learning. Implicit learning will make tennis your second nature. Only way to learn implicitly is by experience, in other words, by playing a lot of tennis. Once you learn something implicitly, you can turn off thinking while doing it. Or once you gain enough experience in tennis, you will just play, your movements will be smooth & you wont think about which stroke to use .

What really interests me is that when you are under pressure or stress, your brain will turnoff subconscious. So everything you learned subconsciously or implicitly wont be available for you now that you need it most. Your brain cannot afford any mistake, so it goes back to your first tennis lessons. Your brain wants to be in 100% control. Explicit system takes over and you will think about every little detail. For example, playing tennis in a tournament or taking an exam. When this happens most people don’t do well or they choke.

This makes a lot of sense for me at least, because so many times I know this happened me. I used to rock climb indoors all the time but outdoors I couldn’t do the easiest routes. Or I would know every single detail about some technology but during job interviews I would totally mess up. In fact, the more I wanted the job, worse I messed up.

Hopefully, with this information, next time when I choke I could take a deep breath, relax and let my subconscious take over.

2009 was great!

• made some great friends
• read a lot
• road trips
• quit smoking
• started running
• worked with a startup
• got laid off and discovered what i really want to do
• and found co-founder for my startup

I think, in 2009 I found a balance.

2010 hasn’t been so great so far…

• haven’t been running
• started smoking again (stress is a bitch)
• reading is down

but the most important thing, the startup project is done. Now we just need to figure out legal issues & the name.

Well only 6.5% of 2010 is gone so far. Still enough time to make it happen.