Ramsayings

You know what makes this blog great? It’s always reminding me of my shortcomings. No, not that I post once a month; that I post resolutions every year and never fulfill them.

This year I planned on ripping all my CDs to my MacBook. Didn’t happen. It’s tedious, there’s never time, the litany of excuses goes on and on. That changes next year.

Why? Because if we’re planning on buying a new home in 2013, I need to shrink my portion of digital goods considerably. There’s no excuse to not have everything loaded onto a computer that can be accessed via home sharing. Flipping content from computer to other devices in the home is really awesome and I’m finally seeing that potential.

What does it mean? I need an iMac. While everyone is going smaller — whether that’s iPads or MacBook Airs — I’m realizing that I need a machine that can comfortably store all the CDs and DVDs I own locally that I can then access on mobile devices. My MacBook just won’t cut it. I want something that can whirr quietly upstairs and be the classic home computer. I think iMac fits the bill.

Wish me luck in 2012 in getting our digital life together! (Do people still even buy used CDs and DVDs?)

Want some insight into how much I want to optimize my iPhone usage? I’m searching desperately for charts showing the workflow differences between Instapaper and Safari Reading List.

But it’s not limited to that! I struggle with all manner apps. It doesn’t matter if it’s food-related or maps or GTD apps; I need someone who can be the Duncan MacLeod of app selection to explain how to get the most out of each app, avoid duplication and optimize the experience on all manner of platforms.

Know someone who’s doing this? Let me know and I’ll sing his or her praises from the rooftops! There can be only one!

I’ll leave you with this relevant Queen video, embedded below.

I know I’m the last person on Earth to admit this, but I’m in love with the iPad. Strike that: I’m in love with my wife’s iPad, which I gifted her two years ago. At first i thought my iPhone was all I needed. I started playing with it Thursday night and now it’s on my lap nonstop. I’m writing this post on it!

Favorite app? Currently obssessed with Flipboard. Really changes the way I engage my feeds and browse the web. It’s fun again!

What am I looking forward to? Reading. I’m desperate to embrace digital books because I can’t shoehorn another in our modest home. Hope this screen is addictive for reading as it is everything else.

If you have an iPad and are a fan, let me know what your favorite apps are in the comments!

Here we go again. No sooner do I announce Amortizing Ryan Howard then I change the name (and buy the URL) for High Leverage Inning. (Hey, it’s live!)

This isn’t the first time this has happened and it probably won’t be the last. Throughout my bloggy tenure I’ve struggled with titles and platforms and channels for this or that type of content. Most of it falls under the category of, um, “flaking out.” Even when I’m putting off writing about this or that, it’s really hard to determine what to put where. For example, we had a great trip to Meadowbrook Farm this weekend. I posted pics to Instagram and Facebook and tweeted about it a few times, too. Do I write a blog post wrapping it all up? So confusing! Most of all it’s about how much importance do I assign my personal stuff when I’m always thinking about ways to improve what I’m doing with Comcast Voices. It’s the quiet struggle of the social media professional.

See, for those of us who started writing about stuff online in the ’90s, blogging is a really specific thing, i.e. posting things to a weblog such as this one. We have different names for everything else, whether it’s tweeting or tumbling or whatever. I see blogging as a species of writing, whereas newcomers may see blogging as the genus and platforms like Facebook and other social networks as the species. Ultimately it’s all content sharing, but for those of us who enjoy writing, even when we don’t write enough, we have these pangs where we admit we’ve neglected our blogs.

Starting today I’m going to try to establish some sense of what goes where. I probably won’t stick to it, but I’m definitely going to try.

I’ll blog about whatever passes my fancy here. That will continue to be things that mostly pertain to family stuff, as well as the occasional personal tech how-to’s and music-related things that grab my attention. Current obsession? Instapaper! Right now I’m sifting through articles to help me decide if it’s better than iOS 5′s Reading List. I think it is, but it’s all a matter of workflow for me. Fewer clicks = better experience.

High Leverage Inning will be where I compile all the baseball-related items that catch my eye. I’ve tried Tumblr more than once and now I finally feel comfortable with the medium. Also, if you want to be a Tumblr rockstar, here’s a tip: tumble about sports. From what I can tell it’s a small subset of the greater Tumblr community and the folks who are doing it well are really great follows.

Phew. Feels good to get all of that off my chest. Have to say that the evolution from long-form blogging to microblogging can be a tough pill to swallow. I love Twitter and Tumblr, but few things are as satisfying as really spilling words on the virtual page.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Let me know how I’m doing in the comments, okay?

Because the world needed another baseball blog. You can find it here, where I will be Tumbling about all manner baseball stuff, whether it’s Phillies or not. (And, yes, this is my umpteenth stab at Tumblr. This could stick only because I really like reading and writing and thinking about baseball.) If you can recommend anyone on Tumblr who is a thinking person’s baseball fan, or even someone who makes unbelievably hilarious .gifs, let me know!