Bill's Conversational Musings

Where do ideas come from? Sounds like the answer should be simple, right? Not so fast. What I hope to do in this article is walk you through some of the steps that helps me generate ideas. For me, ideas can come at anytime so I have to be on …

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing--that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar It can be hard to keep moving and accomplish various objectives. Sometimes there are things you want to do. Other times there are things you do not want to do but need …

"Question: Why is my site slow? Answer: Too much is being asked of the current solution Solution: Ask less of the servers or add more resources" It’s a common question asked by almost any administrator or webmaster at some point or another. Perhaps it was working fast early on and …

From July 14, 2008: During the 4th of July weekend we visited the Dry Comal Creek Winery. Around the same time, KENS5 in San Antonio visited the winery and did a much better tour/overview in their "Trip on a Tankfull" segment. Our tour was hosted by Mr. Houser, we got …

When talking about system failures, I always tell people I speak with that it can and will take place. To set the right expectation I mention that these systems (some virtual) are constructed by mankind. It's not a question of "if" but "when" will it break. Even if the system …

From June 11, 2008: BMW is thinking about a car where the entire body and major components are made out of fabric. So, to wash this car do you now take it to the cleaners? I know what happens to a convertible after about 2 years in the sun. Imagine …

Here is a short screencast that I did about using the Aviary photo editor in the Premium version of Flickr. I use Flickr as one way to store and display my photos. Having the editor built into the portal makes it easy to update simple values such as saturation and …

From May 30, 2008: I saw this while watching "How Its Made" on Discovery Channel HD. I first thought it was just a local commercial but it appears to be a nationwide commercial.

I was asked today what was on my bucket list. I do not have a bucket list but I do have a list of things I would like to do one more time. I'm sure this list will update and change as time goes on. I want to take in …

It seems we are becoming more and more attached to our digital devices. Phones, tablets, watches all clamor for our attention. We (including me) freely give it to them. We can spend hours on social media, news and interest sites. But to what degree do we find it impacts our …

The sun is hot and the drinks are cold. Here is a list of songs that, to me, remind me of relaxing by beach or pool with a cigar. Not all of these songs are Jimmy Buffett songs. Of course, the Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads box set could fit …

Here is a short screencast that I did about using TiddlyWiki as a bookmark manager. Tiddlywiki is a non-linear notebook that is free for download that works especially well using a Firefox and an add-on called Tiddlyfox. Tiddly fox allows you to save the file through the browser. It's a …

Light in and of itself is nothing new. I'm not going to tell you something about light that you probably already didn't know. People have been using light for years. It's the fundamental principle in photography which is, by its entomology, painting with light. People have been using light to …

Here is a list of songs about Texas. The artists sing about the beauty of Texas, the people of Texas and all the great things you can do. As a sample, I have a small playlist here on YouTube. Additional Texas Music (Yes, there's an HEB ad in the playlist. …