ryan barlow

Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:14:00 +0000

Those close to me are well familiar with my hermit like habits. This is only amplified by my refusal to imbibe, my dislike for small talk, and my inability to produce any form of stimulating conversation. Rarely in my life do I feel comfortable in a new environment. That was until Chicago.

I've been here for a week now. I leave tomorrow. I am excited to see my wife and children again (selfishly, I'm wanting to alleviate the guilt of leaving my pregnant wife alone with twin 3 year old girls for a week), but the time here in Chicago has been an amazing experience. For once in my working life, I can't stand being in my hotel room and just have to get out. The dining has been wonderful. The architecture and parks are beyond anything I'd ever encountered in Utah and Austin. Part of me wishes I had a camera (aside from the poor pictures I've been able to take with my blackberry), but at the same time, I feel as though a camera would impede the atmosphere I've been all to anxious to absorb. Strangely, I have a sense of being "home" here. I don't know if this is a city I'll ever have the chance to live in, but I will return (probably for work), and Leslie will be with me to share this now familiar taste of a city.

lemon block

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:33:00 +0000

Operator: What is your e-mail sir?

Me: ryan at em double u three design dot com

Operator: r - y - a - n @ n - w - 3 . com

Me: no, r - y - a - n - @ - m "as in mimesis" - W "as in Worcestershire" - "the number" 3 - design.com

Operator: so I have ryan at n - w - 3 - design.com.

Me: no, emmmm not ennnn . . .

Operator: oh so, ryan at em double u three design dot com

------------------
I'm sure everyone has had a similar experience, the constant spelling out of e-mail addresses. That coupled with my always changing e-mail addresses (remember @normansanagram.com, @everythinggrey.com, rsb@cc.usu.edu, daylight_fadingCC@yahoo.com (back in 1997)). I was excited for a time to settle on mw3design.com, but this e-mail has proven to be too frustrating to give out. I thought about doing something like me@ryanbarlow.com, but that feels semi narcissistic. The thought of switching to something more popular like gmail, or yahoo, would be nice, but then again . . . I'd have to spell out the username. So began the search. What should ryan use for his e-mail address? I thought of using tradingloop.com, but if that business idea failed, I wouldn't want to be continually faced with that failure. In the end, I concluded my best option was to find a domain/e-mail that is a combination of two completely unrelated words. That may sound simple enough, but the task of finding a good, not taken domain name is at par of finding gas priced below $3.00 a gallon. After much thought, I've decided on . . .

lemonblock.com

It still feels unusual to me, but so far it has passed the "say it without spelling test". I'm going to continue test driving this e-mail (see if it grows on me). I still get e-mails to my mw3design.com, but if anyone gets an @lemonblock.com e-mail, don't assume it is a pen1s enlargement concoction made out of fresh lemons.

A more official e-mail will be sent out if I decide that this is going to be my e-mail of choice.

recess is in

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Bullied at the pump. Wall Street is sinking. Unemployment is jumpy. Foreclosing the inevitable.

Damn...I guess I won't buy my boat.

We are about to enter (or as many state "are already in") a recession. What got us here in the first place? Sure you have the rising middle class overseas, but it seems a strong case can be made for. . . feelings. A fascinating article/study published in the LA Times best demonstrates my feelings on the major cause of this recession.

the article states:

-------

"Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same.

Surprisingly -- stunningly, in fact -- research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have." 1.

-------

The article concludes with this statement:

"When it comes to money, as in most other aspects of life, reason and rationality are trumped by emotions and feelings."

I feel this article best describes our peculiar buying habits such as the need to buy a home we can't afford, or purchase impractical things such as the SUV (granted this is a generalized statement, practical reasons exist). With emotions playing such a vital role in these major decisions, and jealousy being such a strong emotion. It's no wonder our economy is in the condition it is in. Interesting that one of the ten commandments contains such strong economical advice (part about not coveting).

Since we can't rely on our emotions to make the rational buying decision for us. It is best that we do enter a recession. Changes have been needing to take place for some time now, such as improved technology in the automotive industry, or perhaps our glutenous/expensive habits of eating out. Sure times are changing and adjusting, and thanks to the inevitable recession we are about to enter (or have already entered), things will change for the better. I welcome this recession. It is painful the extra costs. But like the temporary pain of taking off a bandaid, things will improve. Feelings of the pain will change demand. Consumer demand changes everything.

. . . now to buy my boat

1 "Why people believe weird things about money" Michael Shermer, Los Angeles Times, Opinion, January 13, 2008. link

Fighting the Inevitable

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:37:00 +0000

From High School through the first 4 years of my marriage, I've been unable to break the 155 pound barrier. As many of you have noticed, that is not currently the case. Since taking a desk job, my weight has increased at an accelerated amount. I'm not near enough of a weight to panic (whatever that number may be), but I'm at a point where action must be taken, or I will find myself at an unhealthy level. 1st problem. Time. I have plenty of things on my plate at the moment, and a dedicated exercise routine requires too much time. I would have to drop one of my current projects to make room. Lemons? Of course not. Trading Loop? No. Obviously, family, religion, and work aren't options to eliminate. With school starting soon and a 3rd child on the way, exercise has more than been placed on the back burner, it's been tossed out.

2nd problem. Support. I've been on a rigorous exercise routine consistently before, I should be able to do it again. But every time I try to start, I can't seem to break the 2 week barrier. Most of the time this is due to the time factor coming into play, but many times it has to do with going solo. When I am by myself, I don't have nearly the dedication I do if I'm going with someone. If someone is relying on me, it gives a different atmosphere to the routine.

With these two obstacles in the way, I had decided to give in the weight gain...until I reached an interesting conclusion.

Lunch.

James (my brother) works 1 mile away from me and we both have flexible lunch schedules. My lunch hours are currently spent mindlessly wandering the internet in my office. We can easily fit in a good 45 minute workout everyday during lunch. This simple solution easily overcomes my main two obstacles. So with excuses aside, I begin my war.

fawder

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:16:00 +0000

Post fawder's day celebrations lead to reminiscing moments of being a father (and of course of my own pops, see this post for that dedication)

Losing to myself

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:47:00 +0000

My goal in gaining "Ryan Barlow" dominance, in the organic google search rankings, has reached a point where I am now number 1 and number 2. I can't help but feel that I am losing to myself. I'll have to settle for being the number 1 Ryan Barlow, and the number 2 Ryan Barlow. I may have earned the "self-centered", "egotistical", "narcissistic" labels with these Ego surf posts about Ryan Barlow, but I guess the time to explain myself is in order (even though the labels are more than accurate).

The web crawlers that spider through the internet are looking for certain criteria that increases ones relevancy when specific key words are searched. That criteria involves many things (some are even unknown to us), but the more common ones are how many websites link to you, and another is the number of times the key words is used in the text. For example. If I want this website to show up when someone searches for Ryan Barlow, I need to find ways to say Ryan Barlow as many times as possible. My previous "Ego Surf" posts were specifically designed to say the name Ryan Barlow as many times as possible (in a non cheating sort of way, google hates cheaters) which helped lead to my website becoming the number 1 ryan barlow search site. In order to maintain my position level, I will have to periodically write posts about ryan barlow. In fact, Ryan Barlow has been said 10 times so far within this post (not nearly as many Ryan Barlow's as my previous posts (they numbered around 13 to 14 Ryan Barlow's). Oh well, 12 will do.

Ryan Barlow...13

distracted

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:38:00 +0000

My waning diligence in blog writing can be directly linked to the launch of my companies redesigned website at bbqcovers.com. I apologize to the faithful few who have continued to visit my site (even though we all know you came out of habit rather than out of loyalty).

new site

old site

Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:58:00 +0000

Quote:

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s**t (edited for mother) we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives.”

Bloggers Note:

I loved that movie/book. I think I'll pick up the book again.

the pact

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:24:00 +0000

In order to motivate myself to continue writing "Lemons", and convince James (the renowned no reader**) to read "The Foundation" series (see figure 1), a pact was made between two brothers. For every day James reads more than 10 pages, the very next day, I've committed to write 5 pages of screenplay towards "Lemons". This might sound like an imbalanced arrangement, but given that I have no memory of James reading anything since high school, I felt it was a fair deal.

Let the writing/reading begin.

Side note: Update on "lemons". After reaching about 20 minutes into the screenplay, a major development in the story occurred to me rendering all that was written useless. After allowing a good month to go by, while the changed germinated in my head, I have finally started the rewrite. I only have 3 minutes in (1 page generally equals 1 minute), but apparently, James started reading yesterday. Expect 8 minutes to be finished by tomorrow.

**Bloggers note: It is unfair of me to label James as a "no reader", the term is used in a more traditional sense of the word reader. James just refuses to read novels (fiction and nonfiction). He does however read instructional, educational books in a far more consistent fashion than my own.

Safe Are We?

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:39:00 +0000

A simulated "Safari" in San Antonio produces some nice close up photos of animals native to Africa.

note: Forgive the double post (a similar post was made at my family website), but some of these pictures were passed up in the family screening that I felt deserved some blog attention.

not so Compact Disk

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:08:00 +0000

A couple of months ago, I rid myself of our DVD player. All movies that I watch are now file driven. It was an easy move, since most of the movies I own, I inherited from my previous job. However, something I have been hesitant to clean out are my compact disks (CD's for you young ones). Years of my hard earned 5 dollar an hour cash was spent on BMG subscriptions, CD shops, and concerts. It's been 5 years now that I had boxed up my collection and just used files, but getting rid of the nostalgic collection has always been a thorn I've wanted to leave in. But the time has come that I part ways with my CD's. Of the 200 cd's I've kept over the years, I've decided to narrow my collection down to 30 CD's for reminiscent purposes. Going through these, I reminisce now of Ryan's CD history.

My parents bought a CD player around 1989. Billy Joel's "Storm Front" was one of the many CD's they bought. Billy Joel became my first favorite artist. After that, I had my Paula Abdul/Country music phase. I never purchased a CD or Tape during that time, my interest level was not very high.

The summer of 1994, with the help of my cousin Doug, my interest of music blossomed. Pearl Jam VS and Soul Asylum were the first two albums I every bought. That was shortly followed with my BMG subscription, which brought me Weezer, Counting Crows, Stone Temple Pilots. I then bummed Smashing Pumpkins and REM off my brother. My collection started to gain ground. It wasn't long until I stole all my parent's Beatles and Simon and Garfunkle C.D.s. In 1997, I started downloading MP3's. Mostly Blink 182, MXPX, and Goldfinger (during my awkward punk stage). MP3s were much harder to come by then, so the collection never grew and I didn't have much hard drive space (1GB) to store them.

Right before leaving to Brazil in 1999, I was logging around 200 C.D.s. That became my plateau for CD ownership. From that time forth for every CD I acquired, I got rid of another.

In 2002, I started ripping all my C.D.s. The computer became my main form of listening to music. I never even owned an iPod until 2004, but even till this day, the computer is my number 1 source for music listening. 2003, I decided that my CD's were no longer useful to have out and they were all boxed up.

Today, I decided they are no longer "Compact" enough.

Good bye old friends. Hopefully, I'll make enough selling you to buy myself a couple of songs on iTunes.

Organic Ryan

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:25:00 +0000

"Would the real Ryan Barlow please step forward" says the spider

339,999 pseudo Ryan Barlow's hush, as the true egotistical Ryan Barlow steps forward and finally separates himself from the crowd.

"Damn you" cries the Youtube Ryan Barlow

"oh man" mopes the imposter myspace Ryan Barlow

"He's where he belongs" concedes the LinkedIn Ryan Barlow

----------------
Ladies and Gentleman, on 3/12, I started a quest to become the number 1 Ryan Barlow on the google organic search. A month and a half later, I'm pleased to announce, I've successfully moved from number 8 to....number 1. Finally beating out my opponent MySpace Ryan Barlow. His tyrannical dominance of the number 1 spot is officially over.

Thank you all for linking to me, googling me, etc.

bar-Cubemeister: A tribute to Rubik and the Master thereof

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:21:00 +0000

Growing up, bragging rights were not difficult to come by. My uncle had written a number 1 country music song. My family inherited "George" a skeleton used in the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth". My parents speak Klingon (maybe that isn't something I should brag about). But my ultimate bragging right that has always elevated me to "coolest person" among my peers (even to this day) is my father, Brent W. Barlow, Master of the Cube (aka Cubemeister). Back in the early adopting days of Rubik's Cube, my father's affinity for puzzles led him to solving the rubik's cube (without any help). He then wrote a book (ISBN: 0-89036-166-5) on his rubik techniques (see figure 1). As if that wasn't enough, Channel 4 did an exclusive interview, knighting him "Master of the Cube". Since then, he has mastered solving it blind folded, and has over 5 variations of other cubes.

Hot Damn.

Here is the cover of his book, along with some interesting things that deal with the Rubik's Cube.

Figure 1

Rubik Pixel Art

Greatest Cartoon Ever

National Bracket Association

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:05:00 +0000

currently I'm getting ready for school, still training at my new job, trying to get my house sold, working out my insurance, organizing 6 years of paperwork, helping shoot a short film for a friend, working on a music video, writing a screen play, and trying to capture the essence of Austin. So, what do I do in my free time (aside from Family/Religion)?

I enjoy watching the NBA.

Holding true to my Utah roots, my team of preference are the Jazz. Even though the Jazz are ranked 2 in the Hollinger rankings (my preferred ranking system), I don't see them at a championship level. So, I've put together my brackets for the NBA playoffs. In Bold is the team I think will win. Keep in mind, this isn't how I want it to happen, this is just how I think it will happen. I could be stretching it with the Suns, but since they are my back up team (for when the Jazz fail me) I have them going to the finals. If at any point they get eliminated, then I think the Lakers will get to the finals. But I still think the Celtics come out on top.
-----------------
Round 1 - West
-----------------

Lakers
Nuggets

Jazz
Rockets

Suns
Spurs

Mavericks
Hornets

-----------------
Round 2 - West
-----------------
Lakers
Jazz

Suns
Mavericks

-----------------
Round 3 - West
-----------------
Suns
Lakers

-----------------
Finals
-----------------
Celtics
Suns

-----------------
Round 3 - East
-----------------

Celtics
Pistons

-----------------
Round 2 - East
-----------------
Celtics
Cavaliers

Pistons
Magic

-----------------
Round 3 - East
-----------------
Celtics
Hawks

Cavaliers
Wizards

Magic
Raptors

Pistons
76ers

interspective

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:47:00 +0000

I feel as though I'm running out of things to do on the internet. Digg has lost its flavor, blog hopping has lost its zeal, e-mail has become a medium of p3nis 3nlargement ads and false rumor proliferation. Even so, I probably waste a good 2 hours a day (actually more, I'm too embarrassed to admit the actual number) browsing. At the end of each day, I know I could have accomplished everything in 5 minutes. In fact, sometimes I go to the exact same site over and over, just out of habit (yes, those multiple IP addresses you are monitoring are me), so why do I continue such unhealthy habits? I'd almost say it's borderline addiction. I don't really go through withdrawals without it, but I keep finding myself mindlessly browsing the same things over and over.

Naturally, we shouldn't be addicted to anything. So I've concluded that I need to do something about my internet habits. Obviously I won't eliminate it (since I need it for work), and I could never deny something so beneficial to man, but I've established some goals to better moderate my web usage. For most everyone, you won't even notice a difference, but I say now, no longer expect e-mail replies within the hour. No longer expect me to know all the cool/new videos within the first day. No longer expect me to be as in touch with their family bolag posts.

Oh wait, I suck at replying to e-mails, I'm always last to see new videos, and I rarely comment on bolags. Damn, I've really been squandering my time.

update

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:29:00 +0000

I thought I would update everyone on where james and I stand on each of our projects.

tradingloop.com - this has taken the back burner right now. We have all the details worked out, we're just looking for a good programmer to do our database and parametric search programming. If you have any recommendations, please forward them to me.

lemons - I've worked out most of the details, but I'm only about 20 pages into the script. This is our first feature length film. It's still needing a lot of work, but I think it will do really well as our catapult into filmmaking. We're on a two year plan on getting this made. A premise will be announced as soon as I have it registered with the screen writers guild.

jets under fire - we've agreed to do a music video for Jet's Under Fire. Great band. James is leading the way, and I'm trying to absorb everything I can in the process. "Just Like the Cold" is probably going to be the song choice. myspace.com/jetsunderfire.

short film - Even though I have a lot on my plate at the moment, James and I want to have a short film in the works. We have a couple of possibilities (Griffin, this is where you come in) that I'm hoping will come to fruition.

add on

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:49:00 +0000

An old friend of mine (who makes an excellent burger), John Cowgill contacted me to reminisce of the good ol' college days. We had spent a many hours at a call center playing add on (I draw one thing, then he adds to it, then I add to it, etc. etc.) I was surprised to learn he still had those drawings we concocted. Below are a select few of the many that came about. It was always fascinating to see what we ended up with. We prided ourselves in completely changing the drawing with one stroke. Cowgill...good times...good times.

warning: policital issue

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:33:00 +0000

To be fair, you all have warning that this is an anti-anti immigration post. You'll also notice that I don't allow comments on my posts, so this will be a one sided argument. So if you choose to continue to read this post, please keep in mind, these are my views and don't get yourself all worked up over it. Forgive the double negative anti-anti immigration, but I use that term because it isn't that I'm promoting immigration, but I'm against this being one of the top political issues on the republican agenda. To get my political orientation out there, I'm republican and I'm planning to vote for Obama this election. So of my 5 readers, probably only 2 of you are still reading this.

Generally, I'm quiet when it comes to political discussions. Everyone has the right to choose what they believe, and usually I give inaccurate information when I engage in those heated discussions (I can't remember everything off the top of my head, plus lets face it, no one ever changes their views. If anyone starts to loose the argument, they just end up going home and research to find more validation for their previous belief. See previous post: "Feelings: a political Defense").

The best way I feel to present my views, is to present a rebuttal to the common anti-immigration comments (AIC) I have crossed. Now keep in mind that their are some evidences that support the AIC, but the purpose of this blog is to emphasis that there are arguments in support of anti-anti immigration.

Immigration
------

AIC: Crime goes up

Ryan's comments: I refer to an article published by Kathleen Kingsbury, in Time magazine titled "Immigration: No Correlation With Crime", 2/27/08

The article points out various statistics but the main one that gets the point across is "first-generation Mexican immigrants were 45% less likely to engage in violence than third-generation Americans. This pattern continued into the second generation, which was 22% less likely to be violent."

Kristin Butcher said it best "From a public safety standpoint, there would be little reason to limit immigration,".

AIC: Immigration is bad for the economy

Ryan's Comments: I'm sorry, but this is absolutely not true. From a personal myopic perspective, my time with Wal-mart, I learned that Latin American products is one of the fastest growing assortments at a Wal-mart store. In my marketing classes, the biggest discussion was how the Latin American demographic rejuvenated the failing "Mall" layout for retailers. We are talking about billions of dollars worth of sales catered to this specific demographic. All of this money is being generated into our economy. Most economists agree that immigration is good for the economy. It benefits the upper and middle class. Granted they do provide a little downfall for the lower class, but the benefits overall for the economy are greater (isn't it the democrats that care more about the lower class, come on fellow republicans, get with it (I'm being sarcastic with this comment, in case that was missed)). I could go on and on about the economic benefits that immigration has created, but I refer everyone to a well written article that was published in the LA Times.

Illegal -- but Essential, by David Streitfeld.

AIC: I don't care that you're here, just learn our language

Ryan's Comments: First off, English is not the official language of the United States (majority, but not official). In fact, English came about because a bunch of different cultures mixed.

The only reason you want them to learn a new language, is because you don't want to learn their language. Why...because it's hard. But remember, it's far harder for them to be in the U.S. not knowing English than it is for you to be in the U.S. not knowing Spanish. Give them a break. Most are trying really hard to learn. These are real people you are talking about.

AIC: Well, they shouldn't be working in the restaurant industry

Ryan's Comments: Ok, you have three options to choose from. 1) Put up with someone that is trying to learn the language. 2) Put up with waiting in line for 30 minutes, vs. 3 minutes 3) Put up with double the prices

Personally, I pick number 1 (which most businesses do). When you're talking about many of these service industries, it's easy to say "the company shouldn't put these people in service positions, cause I can't understand them". But when you think about the logistics behind it. They don't have a choice. Our unemployment rate is extremely low right now. We don't have enough people to fill these positions. Immigrants (legal and illegal) are filling this need. If they aren't available, the restaurant has two options. One is make their pay a lot more competitive (which means higher food prices), or two is sacrifice turnaround time. Who wouldn't pick the first option (I also wanted to point out, that during my time in Brazil, it was difficult to learn the language and I was always appreciative to those who showed patience in helping me learn the language).

Well, those are the only key points I wanted to touch on. Yes, yes, I know plenty of you have a lot of rebuttals, most probably from some spam e-mail from a buddy of a buddy. But I just wanted to emphasize that there is a lot more to it with immigration. Do we need to improve it. Yes. But our economy is about to collapse because of poor financial decisions Americans made. Do you really want to focus on getting rid of a support beam that is keeping us semi afloat?

sabadoodle

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:22:00 +0000

Imagine that you've been asked to give a talk, sermon, or lesson in church. You spend hours, perhaps weeks, studying, praying, working hard, to come up with what words you feel will inspire the congregation. The night before, you forgo a night of parties, movies, entertainment in general, just to get a good nights sleep. You awake with a good healthy breakfast, and spend a good deal of time praying to calm your nerves before you stand up and preach what you've learned. After all that time and preparation, you give your heart felt speech. Unfortunately, while you've been pouring your heart out, you have a hard time with someone in the back. He isn't paying any attention to what your saying. He refuses to look at you and seems intent to writing or doodling in his notebook. An apology to everyone that has had that experience...

I am that man.

Please know that I am listening. I do care about the work you've put into your talks/lessons. I just have a hard time concentrating when people are talking (ask my wife). My mind wanders quickly. I focus much better on what is being said when I'm drawing something. In case you've ever wondered what I'm spending all my time on, here are a couple of pointless things that have come of this.

note: the drawing at the very top of this this website is in fact one of the few sabadoodles I'm proud of.

sarandermis

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:35:00 +0000

Last night I dreamed that someone replaced my skin with Saran wrap. My intestines were just bulging out and the wrap was about to break. That was until I was sent flying in the air making an infinity symbol around a floating open box.

Anybody know of a good discount exorcist?

pt.2

this is a late addition to this post -a post post be it... I went through some funky dream dictionaries and found the following meanings to key parts to my dream last night.

Skin

To dream of your skin, represents protection or shield of your inner self. It serves as a physical boundary and how close you let others get to you. Alternatively, it may indicate that you are being to superficial or shallow.

Box

To see a box in your dream, signifies your instinctual nature and destructive impulses. Alternatively, you may be trying to preserve and protect some aspect of yourself. The box may also symbolize your limitations and restrictions.

Intestines

To see intestines in your dream, signifies evil, disaster, and extreme misfortune.

Well now, aren't these cheery interpretations?

Damn id

egosurf

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:34:00 +0000

My online narcissism dramatically increased the day the domain name ryanbarlow.com became available. Unfortunately, even with this advantage, I am still unable to occupy the "top" ryan barlow organic google search result. I held the number 2 spot for some time, until I stopped blogging. This inactivity dropped me to number 8. This gave rise to imdb ryan barlow, linkedin ryan barlow, youtube ryan barlow, myspace ryan barlow, and amazon ryan barlow. The myspace ryan barlow has continually held the number 1 spot. Now that I've started blogging again, I've been able to reclaim my spot as number 2, but still can't pass the MySpace ryan barlow. They are a band named ryan barlow, but not one of the members is named ryan barlow. Here is an excerpt taken from their site:

"ryan barlow is a made-up name. he does not exist. but don't tell that to mark... he is very proud of what ryan has done. the music is... whatever. you decide. i have trouble describing it."

Bastards, I exist.

My goal right now is to become the number 1 ryan barlow. Help me become number 1 by linking to my blog (the more links to my website, the better SEO I get).

Urinal Mugging

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:02:00 +0000

Problem:
One of my irrational fears is getting mugged at a urinal. I'm in a public restroom, my face is to the wall (strictly following proper bathroom etiquette), a hand is occupied. The distance between my head and the wall is close enough that any mugger need just elbow my head and my face gets slammed against the wall; then he could easily take my wallet and run, while I urinate all over myself.

Preferred Unlikely Solution:
Rearview mirrors for each urinal.

Current Solution:
Slight quarter body turn, allowing me proper reflection from the pipe to detect any unusual movement. However, the turn is not enough to eliminate any needed privacy.

bissextile

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:15:00 +0000

I was born in a bissextile year. My age has been divisible by '4' 7 times. You'll have to forgive my disturbing superstitious behavior, but I can't help but say and believe "This is my year".

An apology to all those who accidentally read this post title as "bisexual",

Project Updates
---------
tradingloop.com - We've finished the look and layout. We're now shopping around for a php developer.

film 1 - James and I have started writing our first feature film.

film 2 - Invisible People fell through, possible alternative short film in the works.

music video - possible music video in the works.

three degrees of occupational happiness

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:45:00 +0000

3. A job that makes money.
2. A job that involves your interests and makes money.
1. Your dream job.

This is way oversimplified, but best describes my views on occupations. Obviously right now I'm at the 3rd degree of occupational happiness. I'm not particularly interested in protecting outdoor furniture, but it makes money and is a great job. Don't misunderstand this, I love my new job, but I would be even happier if I was making the same amount of money only doing something that is more aligned with my interests. I'm going back to school to work particularly in advertising because I feel that would elevate me to that second degree. Running an ad firm is my ultimate goal, but working for a production company, or a publishing company, would hold equal value to me.

The highest degree is separate from the 2nd degree. You could distinguish the two based on difficulty. But I look at it as something that would be your ultimate accomplishment in life (occupational wise). Being a bestselling author, winning the Nobel peace prize, a rock star. We all have our dreams. For me, it's to be a successful filmmaker.

I'm living the 3rd degree, making steps towards the 2nd degree, and sylentfilms has officially started what I hope will get me to number 1.

thought of school

noreply@blogger.com (ryan) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:03:00 +0000

It was four months ago that I entered a heated discussion with one of the directors of my previous employer. It was very upsetting to me, but helped me realize that I had to break away from the stagnant/semi-comfortable life I had accustomed myself to. That led to a month of once again pondering the dreaded question...What do I want to do in life? The back burner thought of going back to school burst into flames, as I realized that my greatest strength was in Advertising. The next day, I signed up for the GRE. Shortly after, I applied for the Master's program in Advertising with the University of Texas. A couple of weeks later, I sent my resume out for a couple of jobs in Austin. I had a bunch of "back up" schools lined up (since the UT seemed very unlikely at the time), but when January rolled around, I was offered a job in Austin, which led to me thinking school would have to once again ride the back of the stove top. One month after being out here, I got the news that I was accepted into the UT.

I don't think life has ever been this smooth to me before. In between the cracks of this story, is actually a far more interesting, better than a soap opera story, but I save that for my conversations.

I'm excited to go back to school, especially in a field of study that I find extremely interesting and will elevate me to my second degree of occupational happiness (to be explained on the next post).