The Journal of Joe The Peacock. Yay.

1 Comments


       

1.10.2009:

A very curious exchange

Hello Joe,

Something I am just curious about. Back in 1994 1995 era, you and I hung out with the same people. Well in that time I moved to Florida and late in 95 I moved back up to Georgia.

We all hung out at [someone's] house and I never felt welcome after I moved back up here. I got the message and stoped coming around. After I started a facebook account I tried to reconnect with [someone] and [someone else] and they both said no to my request.

Just out of curiosity, what did I do to everybody to make them hate me?
The only reason I am asking you is that you were always willing to speak your mind. I have a feeling that has not changed over the years.

Just curious, [Person]

Hey [Person],

I'm thinking you might have the wrong Joe Peacock. I don't recall a [someone] or anyone named [someone else] that I hung out with for much time at all, and I only knew one [Person who wrote me] I went to school with, and we definitely weren't part of the same crowd.

It seems you went to [a different high school], graduated 1993. I was Mount Zion HS, class of 95. I know I wrestled kids from your school, but if I hung out with any from around that way, it was purely cursory.

Although, I will admit, there is a LOT about high school and that time in general I don't remember, so if I'm mistaken, forgive me.

One thing you definitely did get right, I do speak my mind. No one's ever been able to get me to shut up... If I were the Joe Peacock you were looking for, I'd definitely let you know what happened, and I think it's pretty weak that the guys you contacted were too cowardly to at least give you the score.

You didn't ask for it, but my advice - screw those guys. There's a lot of folks from my past who acted much the same way you were treated, and the one thing I figured out is that everyone has their own justifications for acting however they act, and at least in their own heads, they're justified. Which means they'll act as if they owe you nothing.

Hope things work out alright there.

Thanks for the reply. Have a great day.

Permalink! | 1 Comments


         

1.09.2009:

The History Of The Internet [video]

12:06 AM

This absolutely fantastic animation of the history of the internet brilliantly summarizes 4 years of Computing History courses in a very interesting and fun-to-watch way. Probably my favorite video on the net at this moment. Enjoy:



History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

* * *

Permalink! | 3 Comments


         

1.08.2009:

If you haven't played "World of Goo" - you should.

6:19 AM

This goes for EVERYONE: World of Goo is one of the best puzzle games I've ever played.

World of Goo Trailer 2 Director's Cut
by 2dboy

It's appropriate for all ages, is hilariously funny and best of all, it's one of the smartest games I've played since Tetris - and that's saying a lot, as I play Tetris every single day, and have since I was 9. It's available on Mac, Windows and WiiWare, so there's a greater than 90% chance that - if you're reading this - you can actually play it. It's only 20 bucks and is completely DRM-free (and like all games, I know a certain subset will pirate, but in this case, it's an independent developer and I'd love to see you guys reward their hard work with a little dough).

* * *

Permalink! | 3 Comments


         

1.07.2009:

The Favor - I need you to talk on camera purdy pleeez

12:18 AM

Okay, so here's the deal:

So far, there've been some sales meetings at Penguin where they've discussed my book and read my stories to the sales guys, and so far, it's met with some great response. There's good buzz inside the publisher about what I'm doing and how it's being done.

Penguin is having their next big great sales meeting in a few weeks (I'm not sure of the date yet, just that it's in "the next few weeks"), where they'll be discussing my book and how to market it and why the sales people should even bother getting book sellers to sell my silly book. All that goo.

One of the things they're doing is showing video of the various authors who will be in the Fall 2009 catalog, explaining who they are, what they do, how their books came together, etc. And I have some footage from some of my book signings and readings, but I thought it'd be kinda cool to have little video vignettes with actual readers talking about the book, why they liked it (if they liked it), how they found MI, why they joined up, etcetera. My book is, above all else, a book that you the reader made. And I think that it'd be ten times more valuable to the Penguin sales folks to hear what YOU think instead of what I think you think.

So, basically, the favor is this: If you have a webcam, camcorder, video camera, digital camera, or any device that will record video, record yourself talking about one, several, or all of the following things:

a) what do you like most about my book? (any aspect - how it was made and edited, how it came from the internet, the stories, the font... anything)
b) what brought you to MI?
c) why did you stick around?
d) what about my stories appealed to you?
e) what's your favorite story?
f) why did you buy a book when it was free on the internet?
g) why are you excited about the new book coming out through Penguin?
h) anything else that comes to mind when you think of me, my books or my stories

NOTE: if you're not a member of the site, that's ok - skip the community and site parts, and talk about the book. If you never bought a book but read all the stories on the site or Google Books, great - that's excellent to illustrate how the internet made the book happen. Any and all of these points need discussion, and you don't have to have something to say about all of them to help me out. Even if all you talk about is the Wal-mart story, that's fine by me.

The settings for your shot can be anywhere - your room, your office, in front of Wal-mart, whatever. You can talk as little or as long as you want. You can do multiple takes if you stumble, or if you want to say something several ways just to see how it sounds. You can have your copy of your book in the shot, or wear your MI shirt (or don't have either, just be natural). All of this is fair game. There is no right, wrong or stupid response - ANYTHING YOU SAY IS USEFUL!!!! And unless you object after-the-fact, I guarantee you that if you send me footage, it WILL be used in some way or form.

The most important part of this whole thing is that you're letting this big major publisher with big major authors know why this guy you've chosen to read is worth reading. No matter what you say, I won't let you look silly or dumb. You don't need to worry about editing any footage, or saying anything in a certain amount of time. I'm going to edit this thing up to make (hopefully) three minutes of footage - and the more you say, the more choices I have to pull from when I make the final cut.

As far as delivery of the footage - don't worry about that right now. We'll figure it out. If you need to upload it, I'll help you figure that out, and if you need to mail it to me on physical cassette, i'll reimburse for the cassette and the postage. I'll help anyway I can.

So if you can help me out with a few seconds of blabbing about my book, my stories or me in general, email me and let me know. No hard committments, no expectations. Just let me know if you'd like to help me out. And if you happen to have footage from a reading or book signing that I wasn't aware of, make me aware of it and I'll gladly accept it :)

DEADLINE: Because I only know that this is happening "in a few weeks" I'd like to get these submissions ASAP, but I'd say within the next 7 - 10 days would be good (Thanks for asking, Jathm).

And thank you very, very much, both for your help and for all your support all these years.

* * *

Permalink! | 4 Comments


         

1.06.2009:

Reddit.com's founder, Kn0thing (Alexis), reviews Mentally Incontinent

5:42 AM

While I was at ROFLCon last April, I gave internet maven and all-around nice guy Alexis Ohanian (kn0thing on Reddit, the social-media voting site which he co-founded) a copy of my first book, Mentally Incontinent. Dude was really gracious and thanked me, and even remembered that I was the author of the "How to Win A Fist Fight" article that overtook Reddit's #1 spot for more than 2 days.

He's finished reading it and just sent over a really nice review of the book. I thought that was really cool of him. It's an honor when people like him or Drew Curtis of Fark.com actually take the time to not only read my book, but go out of their way to let me know what they thought of it, good or bad (although it just so happens that they both liked it. For the "Joe's Life" completionists out there, Drew's the one who passed my book over to Penguin, and while he certainly couldn't make them like it, it's because of him the meeting even took place. I'm forever indebted to him for that).

So yeah, there's that.

* * *

Permalink! | 0 Comments


         

1.05.2009:

Facebook is The Mall

5:40 AM

I've figured it out. Facebook in 2009 is roughly the equivalent of hanging out at the mall in 1989 (or anytime through the 80's and 90's).

Basically, you go there and hang out and get nothing worthwhile done, being seen by other people who are there to hang out and get nothing done and be seen. You poke at people as a "hey, what's up" - just enough conversation to be polite, but without all the deep connotations and actual thought:

Above image from the Facebook Autopoke Greasemonkey script.
Invaluable if you're into pokewars like I've somehow become.

There are people who are there who probably shouldn't be there (your parents, aunts, uncles, teachers) who you do everything in your power to avoid publicly interacting with without outright offending. Just like when you were at the mall and you'd pretend to not see them when they wave at you in Macy's, you pretend you never got their wall post (usually by deleting it without response and blaming it on "the damn redesign") or ignoring their pokes or removing your name in tags on photos they post. And then, every so often, you hop into the arcade and play some games.

There are stupid people asking other stupid people to sign up for stupid raffles where they can win stupid prizes:


There's even the same stores as the mall: Cinnabon, Panda Express, The Gap, Pac-Sun, Hot Topic, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret (which you browse by but never actually go into or join)... There's even those stupid annoying retarded no-one-ever-visits-it-but-somehow-they-still-afford-being-there cellphone kiosks dotted around the Facebook Mall:



It's funny how, no matter how much technology changes and advances, we as a species just don't. Not in any fundamental way, anyway.

* * *

Permalink! | 2 Comments


         

1.04.2009:

Some observations: Baconnaise and Bobby's World

3:21 PM

From Nick (SexCPotatoes on MI):

"I dunno if you remember the cartoon Bobby's World, that Howie Mandell did the voices for after his comedy and before his asinine reality show career, but check out this episode, and realize that Sarah Palin talks exactly like Martha, Bobby's mom!"



Well, let's compare. Here's Sarah:




Holy shit, he's right.


And from Ian Spector (author of The Truth About Chuck Norris):

"So I guess just like TV, Facebook shows really weird ads at 3am, because at 3am today, I saw an ad for the most outrageous thing ever. Some of the reviews were "This is one of those inventions, like the wheel or the incandescent light bulb, that will forever change the landscape of our culture." and "So far, I have put it on a burger, a hot hog and, this morning, a Jalapeno bagel. It's God's gift to deliciousness!”

What could it be, besides BACONNAISE! Bacon + mayonnaise, from the makers of BACON SALT!"

* * *

Permalink! | 1 Comments


         

1.03.2009:

Your free 2009 workout - Phase 1

12:56 AM

For those of you whose goal for 2009 is to lose weight and get fit, I salute you.

The sad truth is, however, that the vast majority of people who make that resolution fail to keep it. The reasons why are varied, but in my experience (both personal and hearing other peoples'), the biggest reason people stop with this goal is discouragement from not having a plan, not knowing what to do, or not seeing results soon enough.

So, along with my Absoulte Beginner's Guide to the Gym, I've created a workout plan for you to follow this year. This plan is meant to start your year right, and serves as the first of four phases for getting stronger, fitter and healthier. The phases are:

1) The charge-up
2) The launch
3) The burn
4) The shift

I will be posting workouts for these phases as it becomes time to do so. There is a reason why I don't share with you the later phases right now - because, like Daniel-san in The Karate Kid, most everyone wants to get the big splash without learning the fundamentals and building their base. If you choose to use my workout plans, it's IMPERATIVE that you do the things I tell you in the order I tell you to do them.

This workout (this phase of it anyway) is not meant to turn everyone into huge hulking power lifters. It is designed to begin working your body into shape and getting it used to movements, positions, and technique. It will also begin the process of burning fat - but not how you think it will.

Overall body fat will be reduced with this phase, but the major goal is to burn out the fat from within your muscles. Think about when you go to the market to buy a steak. usually, you're looking for marbeling - the layering of fat within the fibers of the meat. That's precisely what goes on in unused muscles. Fat doesn't just collect around the waist, neck, and legs. It also layers into the muscles. And in order to get your body ready to go, you'll need to get rid of it.

So, the focus of Phase 1 is to do a higher repetition count across a high number of exercises, with a weight that is around 40% to 50% of your maxium strength on each exercise. It is a combination of endurance and strength training, but with a greater emphasis on endurance.

A few notes:

1) Get a calendar. Mark each day you work out with an X (or a check, or a smiley face, or whatever). Build up chains of x's. DON'T BREAK THE CHAIN.

2) It sounds like a long time, but 90 minutes a day is actually very little time to work out each day when you think about it. You work 8-9 hours a day. You spend up to 5 hours a day watching television or driving. You owe it to yourself to put aside 90 minutes each day for you AND ONLY YOU.

3) This is about YOU. It doesn't matter how much you're lifting, or what the other people are lifting, or anything else. All that matters is that you show up and work on yourself. It's the best gift you can give yourself.

4) Please, please, PLEASE take a multivitamin. I recommend highly that you take the ones in indivdual packets for each day, with multiple pills (usually available from high-end nutrition stores). DO NOT use Centrum or some other cheapo brand. This is essentially your entire day's nutrition in a small packet. Spend a bit of money on it.

So, here it is, your workout:

Phase 1: The Charge (9 weeks)

Workout time:

Weeks 1 and 2: 90 minutes
Weeks 3 - 9: 60 - 75 minutes

Important notes:

After EVERY workout, every single day, 30 minutes on the elliptical machine or treadmill. If you are walking, walk at 3.5mph for 2 mins, then 4.0 for one minute, alternating. Keep your heart rate up.

After EVERY workout, ingest at least 5 grams of protein per 20 lbs of body weight (example: 200 lbs of body weight = 50 grams of protein). No more than 15 calories per 10 lbs of body weight (example - 200 lbs = 300 calories MAXIMUM). That means PURE casein / isolate whey protiens. NO Muscle Milk, NO EAS unless it's the extremely low fat / low carb varieties.

DRINK WATER. Lots and lots and lots of water. You need AT LEAST a quart during your workout and another quart after your workout. Just buy a half-gallon of milk, drink it (or pour it out), and use the bottle during your workout. Hydration isn't just a good theory, it's manditory for your health.

You will be eating 5 - 6 meals a day. None of this "big meal 3x a day, with snacks" and no "skipping breakfast and eating huge dinners." FIVE TO SIX MEALS A DAY, with NO LESS THAN 450 calories per meal and NO GREATER THAN 600 calories per meal (if you want to go higher in the mornings and cut lower in the evenings, fine, just stay below 500 calories on any meal within 4 hours of bedtime).

You need to stay below 3000 calories a day, preferably around 2500 calories a day. But you MUST eat AT LEAST 2000 calories a day. Do NOT screw around with this. It is far far far better during this phase to eat more than less. Your body WILL burn it. But if you starve yourself (any less than 2000 calories a day), you're going to stall. You will not build muscle. You will not burn fat. You WILL get cranky and irratable and hate everyone around you and want to quit and play xbox all day.

We don't want that.

We are going to assume you're starting on Monday and ending on Saturday. You can start any day of the week you want, what's important is that you go six straight days in a row, and rest for one.

If you miss a day, DO NOT skip the body part. Do it the next day, and shift your workout plan accordingly (move every grouping out a day). Count this as your rest day, and try to go 6 days straight after that.

Every two weeks, try to go up about five pounds per exercise (in the case of dumbbells, five pounds PER HAND).


Monday: Chest and Triceps

WARMUP: 15 repitions of bench press with very light weight (25% of your maximum weight), 15 repititions of tricep pushdown with very light weight, and 20 pushups.

Stretch - 5 minutes, focusing on pectorals and triceps.

Bench Press: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Tricep Pushdown: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Incline Bench Press: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Tricep Overhead Extension: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Decline Bench Press: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
One-Hand Tricep Curl (cable): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Pec Deck / Cable crossovers: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Dips: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

30 minutes on Eliptical / Treadmill at target heart rate. Walking is fine.



Tuesday: Back and Biceps

Lat Pulldown: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
One-Hand Dumbbell Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Row (machine, cable, bent-over): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
two-hand preacher curl: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Low Row (dumbbell, machine): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
One -Hand Hammer Curl: 3 sets of 15 reps EACH HAND, at 50% of maximum weight.

Reverse Fly (Rhomboid fly): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Chin-ups (with spotter, or place feet on bench / block below and self-spot)


Wednesday: Legs and Shoulders

Leg Press - three positions (inside, outside, calf press): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Military Press (machine or slide rack): 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Leg Extensions: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Shoulder Raises - front: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

Leg Curls: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Shoudler Raises - sides: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.

No-weight squats: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.
Lateral Raises - machine OR front shoulder pull raises: 3 sets of 15 reps, at 50% of maximum weight.


Thursday: Chest and Biceps

CHEST: Same exercises as Monday, except with dumbbells (dumbbell bench, dumbbell incline, dumbbell decline) OR machines (machine bench, machine incline, machine decline), with a bit higher weight (60% of maximum weight) and lower reps (10 - 12 reps, as you feel necessary)

BICEPS: Same curl exercises as Tuesday, slightly higher weight, lower reps


Friday: Back and Triceps

BACK: Same back exercises as Tuesday, except use a different method (if you used cables, use a machine or free weights, vice versa), higher weight, lower reps

TRICEPS: Same tricep exercises as Monday, higher weight, lower reps


Saturday: Legs and Shoulders

Same workout as Wednesday, higher weight (60% of max weight on all exercises), lower reps (10-12, three sets)



Sunday: Rest


(NOTE: For weeks 1 and 2, do 40% of maximum weight for monday through wednesday, and 50% of maximum weight on thrusday - saturday).


Exercise descriptions and illustrations

* * *

Permalink! | 1 Comments


         

1.02.2009:

The 2009 Achievement List

11:23 PM

CURRENT TOTAL (so far):

Here's my list of achievements for 2009, associated dates and point values. This list may update throughout the year, but only to add goals - never to adjust dates out. If I miss a date, I lose the points, period.

Note: in the case of MI stories, if I post a story early, I'm giving myself credit for the LAST SCHEDULED STORY in the chain. That way, I'm still on the hook for the following monday, but the total number of MI story points still get awarded.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Monthly goals:

Write in journal 25/26 out of 30/31 days (even february) (50 points)\

January:


visit gym 24 out of 30 / 31 days (50 points)

January:



Individual goals:

ACHIEVED: Post workout guide / schedule to Journal for users January 3 (25 points)

ACHIEVED: New MI story by January 5 (20 points)


New MI story by January 12 (20 points) (lost)
New MI story by January 19 (20 points)(lost)
New MI story by January 26 (20 points) (lost)

BONUS POINTS: Produced and posted Penguin Sales Video thing in a week (60 points)


Finish synopsis + summary + Character guide for graphic novel by February 1 (50 points)


Finish [character sketch] for graphic novel to blog by Feb. 15 (40 points) (lost)


Opencomic.com design finished by Feb 15 (50 points)


ACHIEVED (on January 9): New MI story by February 2 (20 points)



ACHIEVED (on January 8): New MI story by February 9 (20 points)



ACHIEVED (on January 7) New MI story by February 16 (20 points)


ACHIEVED (on January 6) New MI story by February 23 (20 points)


Post [character sketch] for graphic novel to blog Feb. 28 (40 points)
Finish Mentally Incontinent 2 manuscript by March 1 (100 points)
Finish script for first 50 pages of graphic novel by March 1 (50 points)
Finish entire submission package for graphic novel by April 1 (100 points)
Opencomic beta launch by May 1 (100 points)
Publish Mentally Incontinent 2 by December 31 (100 points)
Sell my graphic novel to a publisher by December 31 (100 points)

* * *

Permalink! | 2 Comments


         

Achievement: First blog post of the year (20 points)

3:31 PM

Yesterday was January 1, the first day of 2009.

Last year, I posted a long list of goals and resolutions and whatnot. The very short recap of this list:

Goals achieved:

2) I am going to the gym minimum 5 times a week.


Goals failed:

1) I will be online when work or necessity dictate that I need to be online.

3) I will write at least one new story for Mentally Incontinent every week, and regardless of my perception of quality, it will be posted on Monday of each week.

5) I'm going to quit caring about anything and anyone that isn't directly related to me, my family or my friends.

6) I'm going to update my journal every. single. day.


Sure, I did alright on some of them for a while, and for #6, I came VERY close, posting 302 out of 365 days. That's not bad. But #1 and #5 were utter, dismal failures. I live online, and I can't stop reading crap. So yeah, unrealistic goals that are stupid. And #3... Well, least said, the better.

So this year, I've attacked things from a slightly different angle. No, I'm not doing away with goals altogether... Rather, I'm attempting goals that aren't "Do x every day" or "Stop caring about whatever". Instead, these are real, honest to God achievements that can be quantifiably measured and, once achieved, aren't reliant on a change in behavior to continue doing. For instance, instead of saying "I'm going to post a new story to MI once a week for a year," I've actually outlined a calendar for posting, and when I post according to that calendar, I've achieved the goal.

And given my comparison to an Xbox 360, I've decided to award myself points for each and every goal I achieve on my list. And the rules are thus:

There are daily goals, weekly goals monthly goals (see update below) and individual goals. Most of the daily and weekly goals funnel into an associated individual goal (example: "Visit the gym today" is a point, "visit the gym 6 out of 7 days" is 5 points, and "lose 30 lbs in 3 months" is 100 points). Just see the update.

Every goal has a date associated with it. If I miss that date, I LOSE THE POINTS FOREVER.

I'm in the process of creating a small widget that will keep track of my daily point totals vs. how many total points could be achieved. Every time I achieve an individual goal (not a daily or weekly goal), I will update you on my journal with a ton of fanfare and whatnot, and you can get all congratulatory in the comments.

I'll also be posting the goal list in full following this post. It will have categories with daily goals, weekly goals, and individual goals, and show the point values for each one.

I've already earned 23 points (Spend the entire day of January 1 off the internet, go to the gym, and post in my blog). (again, I point to the update.)

We'll see how it goes. What do you think about this idea?

***Update 8:50pm***

After talking to Jeremy and a few others, I've come to realize that points for daily activities is cheating (and ultimately self-defeating). Here's why:

a) Let's say I post to my journal only 4 days a week, when my goal is 6. I still get 4 points that week, so I can easily write off the other 2 points, with no real penalty.

b) You guys are going to get BORED seeing daily achievements

c) I'm going to get bored posting daily achievements to the achievement list

d) it's stupid

So, instead, I'm going to combine all the dailies into a monthly. 25 out of 30 days posting in the journal is worth 25 points, and if i'm 24 days, I get zero points. I will stick with the big achievements as planned... Just no weekly or daily achievements. These things need to be worth something, and getting points throughout the week / month underminds that.

Also, erase the 23 points I claimed to have earned. Doing nothing on New Years Day was a personal choice, designed to eliminate the "burnout" factor of rushing to accomplish stupid resolutions. There's no points for that.

Additionally, Jeremy pointed me to the achievement generator which we will both be using to post our achievements. It's a pretty nifty little thing.

I think I like this new take on the idea better. It means more to see "Achievement Unlocked" in the journal post if it's not something stupid like "Oh boy, joe went to the gym which he should have done anyway today."

* * *

Permalink! | 2 Comments


       

Archives

02.2003   03.2003   04.2003   05.2003   06.2003   10.2003   11.2003   12.2003   01.2004   04.2004   05.2004   06.2004   07.2004   08.2004   09.2004   10.2004   11.2004   12.2004   01.2005   02.2005   03.2005   04.2005   05.2005   06.2005   07.2005   08.2005   09.2005   10.2005   11.2005   12.2005   01.2006   02.2006   03.2006   04.2006   05.2006   06.2006   07.2006   08.2006   10.2006   11.2006   12.2006   02.2007   03.2007   04.2007   05.2007   06.2007   07.2007   08.2007   09.2007   10.2007   11.2007   12.2007   01.2008   02.2008   03.2008   04.2008   05.2008   06.2008   07.2008   08.2008   09.2008   10.2008   11.2008   12.2008   01.2009   02.2009   03.2009   04.2009   05.2009   06.2009   07.2009   08.2009   09.2009   10.2009   11.2009   12.2009   01.2010   02.2010   03.2010   04.2010   05.2010   06.2010   07.2010