10 Thoughts for November 4, 2014

1. Furniture: That IKEA Bekant powered sit/stand desk frame has disappeared from IKEA's site.  Dunno what happened, but it was only available in a couple of cities in the US anyway, making it somewhat moot.
2. Health: I find it difficult these days, to sleep on a normal circadian cycle, especially when I don't have an office to go to.  It turns out, I rotate in and out of normal sleep patterns, but I find it extremely appealing to work in the middle of the night / early morning, as there is absolutely zero noise, and the level of concentration is much higher.  It also goes without saying, that I am fond of walking late at night / early morning, as the silence is absolutely wonderful and the smell is not of vehicle exhaust and urban machinery, but of the wafting mix of baked goods, cooking beer, and the forest's air.  At least, these are the scents that I routinely experience in the Pearl District.
3. Internet: So, instead of playing around with a website template that I could then upload to a web-hosting site, I've been playing around with Wix, which uses an online HTML5 editor, and hosts your pages for you, and has pre-built widgets, and other content tools.  I'm a bit torn, because although I'd love to use Dreamweaver, it's geared more towards coding and scripts, rather than a quick and easy GUI.  And while Google Web Designer seems like a really cool tool (since it does HTML5-type animations and other goodies), it nonetheless requires more time than simply working off someone else's templates with a nice GUI editor, and right now I just need to get my landing page / portfolio out there.
4. Technology: Today, SketchUp 2015 was released.  I'm already paying my $95 / year maintenance fee, so it's a free (or, more precisely, prepaid) update for me.  The great news is, they now have a 64-bit version.
5. Technology: Apple may be facing a recall of its 128GB iPhone 6+ models.  No, it's not over Bendgate, although I would assume that over time, Bendgate will prove itself to be a real issue.  Consumer Report's analysis was flawed, insofar that its institutional testing comes nowhere near real-world use, and as such, it really is easy to bend the larger iPhone 6+.
6. TV: I don't watch live TV that often anymore, but when I do, they're almost always shows that are available next day on Hulu.  Most other shows now have an 8-day delay before showing up on Hulu or otherwise online, which means that if you miss one live episode, you're screwed.  Whereas, if you miss a show whose program is available next-day, you can easily catch up without problems in the storyline.  Of course, this is probably the opposite of what ABC and Fox hoped for, but that's what happens when you screw with my viewing habits.
7. Oil / Politics: You can't tell me that Saudi Arabia's announcement to cut oil prices for North America, isn't driven by geopolitical goals to denude Russian hegemony in Europe.  On the surface, it might look like an attempt to derail tar sand and shale oil extraction, by way of directing these price cuts to North America.  But these price cuts allow the US to massively increase its strategic reserves, and since oil is a global market, lower prices to NA also means lower prices elsewhere as traders redirect global sales.  So for instance, as SA contracts with the US grow, Argentinian contracts with the US will plummet, forcing prices down globally.  Last year, China and Russia signed an oil agreement that would see China invest heavily into Russian oil delivery infrastructure.  With cheaper oil, suddenly those infrastructure costs might be excessively high compared to global oil prices, and the return on investment is elongated beyond the life of the infrastructure.
8. Football: I fully expect Oregon Ducks to have their best year, ever.  I think Mariota will win the Heisman and the Ducks may be playing for a national title.  With regards to Mariota, voters will be looking for a man with strong character, to stand apart from several of the last winners who'd been dogged by scandal throughout their college careers.  Without a doubt, with a healthy o-line (you've seen me constantly harping on the importance of a good o-line) Oregon will not lose another game in the PAC-12, including the championship.  This is Oregon's year, finally.
9. Football: I do lament the possibility of Marcus Mariota going first in the NFL draft, though, especially if he ends up with the Jets.  The Jets really do have serious issues on the o-line that will devastate any quarterback they select.  I'd rather he get picked by a team that specifically needed a quarterback, and not a revamp of the o-line.
10. Politics: I dropped my ballot off with about 14 minutes to go.  :D  That's the way I roll.  Well not really, it's just that being sick and all, I delayed doing anything on my ballot for two weeks.  The sad part about going through the voter pamphlet was that most of the initiatives were one-sided with zero arguments against them, making it really difficult to find out what the opposition felt about them. Which of course means that in fact, yes, I do read both sides.