Mandaris

43. What’s the last trip you took? Was it fun? Why or why not.

The last trip I took was to visit family during the Christmas holiday. I would say that it was fun. There was a little tension in that we don’t all have the same political views, but we put that all aside and just focused on what was important.

The presents.

No, I’m joking.

I got to play my favorite card game, Uno: No Mercy, and was able to completely dominate all the little kids in the house.

We also had a whole lot of food and was stuffed.

I know this isn't Friday, but I really want to finish these post ideas before the end of the year.

42. Write a #FollowFriday with the names of your favorite bloggers or social media follows and why you like them.

Leon Mika

I think I interact with his blog more than anyone else’s this year because he has a lot of things that I’m interested in. I met him via the Hemispheric Views discord.

James’ Coffee Blog

I met him view the IndieWeb European meetup. He writes quite a bit and has a number of experiments going on.

Joe Not Art

I met him from the indie web as well. He’s always doing stuff to help the community and I really appreciate him.

Mark Sutherland

Another person from the Indie web. He doesn’t blog as much but he’s always been very helpful in pointing me in the right direction for web development.

Miraz Jordan

Miraz has a lot of wonderful things to share.

41. What is your relationship with your phone? Does it make you happy or sad? Do you get a new one frequently or infrequently?

When the iPhone first came out, it was the only material possession that I wanted. It had the promise of being everything that I could technically want in one device in my pocket. I wasn’t able to afford it at the time, most people weren’t as it was $600 dollars and I was expecting my first child.

I later got one, but it has never really made me happy.

I’ve been content to be able to while away hours playing games and surfing the internet.

I’m grateful when it give me correct information about traffic and weather.

I do get enjoyment from taking and looking at pictures and I think that is the closest that I come from being happy about the phone.

Because it has come with costs that I didn’t expect.

Interruptions from telemarketers.

Things claiming to be news but advertisements about things that I have no interest in.

Time that I should have been paying attention to other things but was concentrated on my screen.

It’s a complicated feeling and is part of why I don’t get a new one frequently.

I'm actually very happy to have this question.

40. What is the most scared you have ever been? Can you write about it? (Don’t dig up trauma for a blog post)

One event that comes to mind that isn’t very traumatic is a moment when I was first dating my girlfriend (now wife). We were celebrating our one year anniversary of dating and had gone to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I thought it was going to be a nice trip with us relaxing by the beach and playing the midway games.

I hadn’t thought about rides that are offered on the boardwalk. In fact, we had arrived early and none of the rides were operating at that time and all you could hear was the calming waves of the ocean.

That’s when it happened.

My wife suggested a rollercoaster.

I hadn’t told my wife that I actually was afraid of rides. Maybe some part of me thought that it would never come up or that everyone feels the same way.

I though the best way to get out of this was to go on another ride. A ride that had a shorter line and was right next to the rollercoaster.

How bad can it be?

The ride was called The Fireball.

I thought it just rocked back and forth and did a little spin here and there.

I was wrong.

I flipped 180 degrees. I was upside down and I hated it.

I screamed quite a bit and it became one of the key moments of our relationship as I was VERY honest with her about things that made me uncomfortable. I would try them and keep and open mind.

But man!

I still hate rollercoasters.

45. What do you remember being a big deal to adults during your childhood or teenaged years?

The first thing that comes to mind is the OJ Simpson trail. I didn’t know who he was at the time. All I knew was that he was driving on a white truck down the freeway with the police following him.

I feel that it’s partially because of the verdict that came after the Rodney King beating that some people feel that this was win for us.

But I don’t know who us was in this discussion.

I feel that the discussions about the case have made me a better person as I was learned about different topics related to it. For example, marriage equality and what things do we bring and take away from a relationship; how someone can be found guilty or innocent and continue to have legal issues related to the matter; what is legal and what is justice.

There have been many jokes related to this trial and I’m sure that there are a lot of different takes on it and sadly many similar cases that don’t have the same media coverage.

So, it’s still a big deal to this day.

39. What do you like to read? Books, newsletters, doomscrolling, blogs, paper magazines?

My favorite thing to read are comics. I’ve enjoyed comics since I was a kid and would read the funny pages in the newspaper. When I was younger, my favorites were Calvin and Hobbs, Bloom County and The Far Side. I didn’t quite get all the jokes in Bloom County at the time, but it was so different from things like Garfield and Peanuts that it really stood out for me. It was also easier to grasp the satire for me than Doonesbury. I feel that The Far Side had the most impact on me because of its single panel nature. I had a collection of books, mugs, and shirts with different comics.

38. How do you feel about writing? Is it often cathartic, fun, a chore?

I genuinely enjoy writing. I feel that it gives me a creative outlet and allows me to see my thoughts in words. I don’t consider myself prolific or especially gifted when it comes to the written word, but I feel that sharing my thoughts online might help someone else out there. Another version of me who might feel the same way and didn’t know how to put it in the right way. Or, is looking for that one resource that I’ve linked to on my blog.

I don’t have as much fun editing my writing. I do like writing tools and there are certainly a lot of options available. So many that it sometimes stops me from making longer pieces.

37. Do you have any good or bad stories from your relationship with social media or Internet communities?

A story that comes to mind happened when MySpace was starting to take off. My roommates sister was visiting for the first time and some of the first questions for me was how many followers that i had and whether I could put her in my top 8.

I don’t remember her name or anything else but that really left an impression.

Here it was in front of me… The gamification of increasing a social network of strangers.

36. What do you remember about your first computer and learning to use it?

The first computer that I remember using on a regular basis was a Tandy from RadioShack. I don’t feel that I really appreciated it because it was hard to use. I was younger and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get things working on it. This was especially bad when I would attempt to run shareware that I would get from different magazines and grocery stores. Yes, they sold software at my local grocery store right next to the checkout and candy.

35. What is your typical day like from the time you wake up until you go to bed?

I think this is a nice little compliment to a post I did recently about my goal of being more intentional. The only thing that is typical about my day is the time that my alarm goes off. After that, I get out of bed, make coffee for my wife and lunch for my kids. Then drop them off at school and see where the chaos takes me until I pass out for the night. In between that, I try to make it to all the things on my calendar.