Two of the blogs I follow recently had some very interesting posts about opportunity in your life and how to take advantage of them, even if you don’t see them. The Art Of Manliness recently posted a “Manvotional” with a passage from the writings of Edward Rowland Sill, where a man is at war, complaining about his sword, throwing it down and leaving. Then the prince comes by, picks up the same sword, and took down the enemy with it. It’s a beautiful passage that speaks to one man blaming his tools and another making the most of what he has. Last month, The Simple Dollar posted a great piece looking at doing better than where you are now in spite of “karma” and “bad luck”. (Side note: seriously people, there is some great stuff out there on the Web, stop watching YouTube videos and reading about the cast of Jersey Shore and start inspiring yourself a little bit!)

So I started looking at life in general and how you can put these ideas into action. People often think that opportunity has to be obvious and “knocking” like that cartoon guy in those car commercials. But there comes a time where you need to start creating your own opportunities. Those that accomplished things in life are the ones that grabbed life by the… ahem, horns… and made it into something great. Here are some tips that you can use to implement greatness in your life and pull yourself out of whatever gutter you are wallowing in at this very moment:

Ditch the “victim mentality” right now. Like, right now. We have been programmed in the last 50 years to point fingers. You can’t get ahead at work because your boss hates you. You can’t lose weight because you don’t have time. You don’t have any money because the credit card companies charge so much interest you’ll never get out of it. In the movie Network, a news broadcaster stands up on air and yells, “I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!” Okay, now it’s your turn. Stand up and declare to yourself that you won’t take this crappy life anymore. You are going to take control and take all the blame. The reason people hang onto the victim mentality is because then they don’t have to feel bad for lousy parts of their lives. They get to let go of that guilt and push it onto something else. Take responsibility for your life and all the risks that come with it.

Don’t be afraid to fail a few times. In a presentation given at the TED conference a few years ago, Ken Robinson discussed how our school system stigmatizes failure. It’s true: we push failure as the worst thing in the world when you are in school, and you are a lousy student if you fail a lot. But schools should be teaching that failure is an opportunity to learn something. In the real world, failure does not mean you suck at life. It means you were trying something new. Take the knowledge of that failure and alter your game plan.

I ran a successful business – or what considered to be “successful” at the time – for almost 2 years. But after it failed and subsequent attempts to revive it quickly did absolutely nothing, I was forced to take a long, hard look at why it failed. That’s the key: when you fail, you need to answer the question, “Why did it fail?” If you can answer that question and fix that problem, you have a much better shot of making it work successfully the next time. That’s why businesses put out prototypes of products. They are expecting it to fail so that they can learn from it. The same goes for beta versions of software. Failure teaches you something. I sat down and put together a game plan that responds directly to my past business failures, and now I am on the verge of being back in business full-time soon, with a foundation that is ten times stronger than the one I lived on before. I would not have had that if I hadn’t failed once already.

Educate yourself and learn from others. Pride is a strange thing. It will keep us from listening to those who have already made the mistakes we are about to make. Stop refusing to listen to other people. They are trying to warn you or advise you for a reason. Take their advice to heart. This also means reading blogs related to your problems – personal finance blogs, health/fitness blogs, blogs about business building. There is more free advice out there than you can imagine, and a lot of it can help you directly.

Starting today, you will not worry yourself about what other people are doing. If you are at work and someone else is getting rewarded, even though they are being lazy at work, don’t bother. The only thing you can do is work harder yourself and prove your worth. Just because somebody else is successful doesn’t mean you can’t be. It amuses me when broke people make comments like, “The only people making money today are the people that have money.” I couldn’t disagree more. The people making money today are the ones who are focusing on their own actions and not concerning themselves with other people. If you are spending your time and brain energy resenting people who have had success, you will never get ahead. Take that to heart: stop keeping up with the Joneses. It’s your life, no one else’s.

Consider an approach that is against the norm. For years, I’ve been told that, to build a business, I need a formal business plan, funding from a venture capitalist, and blah blah blah. They also said that a college degree will ensure that you will get a good job. What happened to that? If you have an idea that flies in the face of what people are comfortable with, do it. But only do it if you can show yourself how it will work, and show yourself objectively. This leads to…

Hold yourself accountable to the facts, and answer to no one else but yourself. When analyzing your actions, don’t give yourself a sales pitch. Look at the hard numbers. For example, when analyzing my business now, I have a spreadsheet that tells me exactly how much money I make per week and per month, how many leads I have, how many clients I have, and how the money is spread out among the clients. This snapshot gives me a quick reference to see how stable my income is, how I can respond if I lose a client, and I can see the trends in my business to analyze risk. This way, when I pull the trigger, I can do it based on facts. Without it, I would be going on assumptions of how much work I’m getting, and assumptions will get you in trouble every time.

Stop reading and start doing. You can read all day, but nothing will change until you start taking action. Get off your butt and work on your life already!

A while back, I posted an article detailing my switch to Google Chrome as my main web browser. Even as I have switched to Ubuntu (and also to the awesome Chromium daily builds – all the latest features of Chrome come to my browser every day), I believe that Chrome is the best browser on the market right now: it’s quick, it has great extensions, and it keeps innovating the web experience. While updating and improving my Chrome setup, I discovered two extensions that give my browsing more speed, and are easy to install and implement.

AdThwart

FlashBlock

Obviously, given the title of this blog, I’m a staunch defender of nerdity and all that nerdness has given the world. I want everyone to be a nerd, but if you think of the picture above as the only definition of nerd, than you are just not broadening your view far enough. This is my definition:

Nerd. n. Somebody who does thinks different from the mainstream (or the “Cooler People”).

Now I’m not referring to dressing different or getting tattoos or whatever “rebel” moves you’re thinking of. I’m talking about taking a different approach to life – one that you define. This is a life that is determined by the choices you make, not what some advertising agency wants you to think. It’s a life that is molded by your actions, not your purchases. Let’s dive in to why being a nerd is just flat-out awesome:

1. Nerds save more money.

There are Cooler People in this world that spend a couple hundred bucks on an iPod or a Zune with dozens of gigabytes’ worth of space on it for movies and music and games, load it up full of crap, and only use it to listen to the same 40 songs. I’m guilty of it at one point in my life. I’ve never been more liberated to have my Sansa Clip Plus, that holds plenty of music for me to listen to and only cost me $40.

Cooler People see a sale on HDTVs and run out and buy one, not realizing they could buy an off-brand online with free shipping (quality determined by the consumer reviews) and the same quality for hundreds of dollars less.

Cooler People go out to eat every night because it’s “fun”. Nerds cook delicious meals at home and save $20 a meal. And we love it.

2. Nerds make more money.

Cooler People graduate from college, go out to get a job, fail, go to graduate school, rack up more student loans, fight to get an entry-level job, work 40 hours a week, get 2 weeks of vacation a year, complain about their boss, struggle to pay their bills, hope they don’t get fired, and retire at 65.

Nerds look for ways to make more money and build their own business and lifestyle. We look for ways to leverage our skills into more income. Eventually, we build the business we want and have true happiness and a work/life balance that we are content with, all because we put the grunt work in at the beginning.

3. Nerds are healthier.

Remember that cooking thing I was talking about? Cooler People hate cooking. They look at it as a chore and they’re “just not good at cooking”. They buy heavily-processed food in packages with splashy colors and buzzwords like “organic”, “natural”, and “NO FAT!” Nerds buy produce and staples and they create meals that Cooler People would kill for. We feed our bodies with fuel that makes us feel better and live longer.

Cooler People spend $50/month to go to the gym 2-3 days a week. They have detailed workout plans and logs and use the elliptical machines with their iPods. Nerds park far from the doors in parking lots so they can walk more. Nerds take the steps once in a while. Nerds get out and play and get natural exercise. We have fun with our workouts.

4. Nerds can make new uses for stuff, lengthening shelf life.

Yesterday, I was in the pool with my family. My brothers and I had been swimming around, having fun. Then my oldest brother grabbed one of the inner tubes and threw it at me. This turned into a 3-man game of human ring toss. Cooler People would have laid around on the inner tube or went out and bought some cool floating game or basketball set. They would have bought and set up a big volleyball net. Nerds can find creative ways to breathe new life into stuff, like our computers, for example.

5. Nerds have cooler stuff because they create it for cheap.

Want a cool home theater where you can access your movie library from anywhere in the house? A Cooler Person might pay thousands to buy a specially-made system. A nerd throws a giant hard drive into an old computer and sets it up to stream to any computer or game console in the house for under $100. Cooler People buy Tivo subscriptions or expensive DVRs. Nerds can spend a few bucks and set up a DVR through their computers and record high-definition television over-the-air.

6. Nerds get good-looking women.

In October, I get to marry a hottie. Need I say more? (And you lady-nerds out there can get some good-looking dudes, too!)

7. Nerds are more relaxed.

Cooler People let the problems of their lives dictate how they spend their time. They react to things that happen to them. They panic. Nerds have a game plan. We have emergency funds for financial disasters instead of high-interest credit cards. We make to-do lists every week so that we know things are getting done. We prioritize the things that matter, so life is a joy instead of a complicated mess.

8. Nerds are respected.

People ridicule Microsoft, but Bill Gates is revered. The scientists that design the latest gadgets and gizmos are nerds. The animators that created Toy Story 3 (one of the finest pieces of filmmaking in the last 10 years) are nerds. The people that work hard and make the most of the opportunities given to them are nerds.

9. Nerds have changed.

There was a time when Louis Skulnick was the poster boy for nerds. The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons was a classic nerd. But now, the nerd is something different. The nerd is a creator, not a consumer. The nerd grabs life by the horns and forces it to be what her or she wants it to be. Instead of being a Cooler Person and taking on massive amounts of debt to live a lifestyle that other people tell you to live, buck the trends and start learning how to really live life the way you truly want to live it. That’s when you unlock the awesomeness that is being a nerd.

It’s the most recent operating system to date

Less bloat

Ubuntu Software Center

Slick, not overbearing animation

Multiple desktop support out of the box

FREE

Mac-like simplicity without Mac-like prices

No viruses

Great support

Breathes new life into old hardware

GNOME-Do

Ubuntu One

The world waited with baited breath for Hulu to finally announce their subscription service. In case you missed it, Hulu confirmed that they will be offering full seasons of TV shows from NBC, Fox, and ABC at a price of $9.99 per month, including the ability to watch from your iPhone, iPad, and a number of set-top boxes.

As exciting as this news is, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. I thought of four reasons why that is. Please keep in mind that I’m aware TV contracts are much more complicated than I’m making them out to be, and I know Hulu will probably be offering some of this stuff down the line. But here’s what’s keeping me from signing up:

Tiered pricing

The reason you hate cable TV is because you pay for a lot of crap you don’t watch. I know this can’t be avoided, but why not come up with a way to tier it per channel? Maybe I don’t watch anything on Fox, and I only want to subscribe to NBC and ABC? Why should I have to pay for Fox if I’m never going to watch it? Let’s give the people the ability to choose what stations they want. And in that same vein…

Open it up to cable offerings

Here’s one I’m oversimplifying, but it still is a valid argument: I’m not going to give up cable to have access to network TV shows for $9.99 a month. I want shows like Mythbusters, Man Caves, and awesome stuff from The Travel Channel. I want Phineas and Ferb (darn it!). Most good network TV shows are in syndication on regular TV. If I’m going to pay for TV, I want a broader offering.

XBox 360/PS3 Integration (for now)

Yeah, I know it’s coming, but two of the biggest platforms for this sort of thing are currently left out while they haggle over contracts or whatever it is. If I were Hulu, I would have waited to announce this service until they were nailed down.

The Killer Alternative to Netflix

Frankly, I don’t see why I would pay for Hulu right now. Netflix continues to broaden their offerings, including cable shows in HD, and I can watch it on my XBox 360, and get DVDs of stuff not streaming, for under $10/month. There’s no killer feature that makes me go “WHOA! I need to go out and get Hulu!”

Will it come? Sure – in time. But right now, I’m saving my money. What is your reaction to the big announcement?

Reading was once a privilege only enjoyed by those well-off and those with patience. It wasn’t that long ago that books took forever to print and the world clamored for new books a couple times a year. Now, books are published and distributed in so many ways that it’s hard to even keep up. In Martin Luther’s day, The Bible was chained up in the library. I have a version of it on my Blackberry that I can search different translations with just a few buttons.

Technology has met books with the introduction of the e-reader. Amazon released one of the first mainstream e-readers in their Kindle, a device that employs “e-ink” technology, where the page treats your eyes like a piece of paper but you don’t have to turn pages. Reviews raved about this little device: you could download books from anywhere – especially with wi-fi hotspots – on the fly, and store hundreds of books on a little device like this. Ebooks generally run cheaper than regular books anyway, so it seemed like a slam dunk. Plus, the e-ink took less power to operate, so battery life could be over a week.

One problem: the price. Amazon’s Kindle was $259. Sony’s comparable e-reader was a whopping $349. Barnes and Noble released their Nook last November at a price of $259. This is a pretty high upfront price to pay, and you’d have to read a lot of books to make up the price of just buying books like normal. So the niche market has always been travelers and very heavy readers – people who need to lug around a lot of books and can store them in one little device instead. But all these e-readers are looking to crack into the full, mainstream reading market.

Then: The Price War Began

Two things happened that kicked off the price war. One, the iPad . As much as I hate this piece of hardware, it has a slick presentation that grabs eyes. One of the biggest features of the iPad has been iBooks, which is just a slicker version of an e-reader. Even though the iPad is at the ridiculous price of $499 (and jumps to an even-more-ridiculous $629 plus a monthly data plan to add 3G service like the Kindle/Nook offers for free), some people justify that price for a color e-reader. So that started taking market share from the other e-readers; why pay almost $300 for a device that reads books when you can pay $500 and get (in certain ways) more functionality?

The second was the brilliant move by Borders: bringing the Kobo eReader to the U.S. While this device lacks any internet connectivity, its price point of $150 finally started to look enticing to the mainstream. And with the announcement of bringing in the Aluratek Libre eReader for $120 , Borders looks like it is readying itself to start bringing in some serious market share.

Until earlier this week, when Barnes and Noble announced they were dropping their Nook to $199, and releasing a wi-fi only version of the device for $149. With access to a ton of free wi-fi hotspots in the country, all of a sudden, the Nook looks like the best option. Amazon, the same day, responded by dropping the Kindle to $189 . With wi-fi and 3G service, as well as a pending App Store , it looks like the one to beat.

So where is the future of reading? So far, here are your options:

1. Buy an e-reader and use ebooks.

Pros: Extremely convenient – get a book in a matter of minutes, either through your computer or through your device. New releases available immediately. Low price for ebooks. Carry a ton of books without the weight.
Cons: Big upfront price for device. Quality of device varies from company to company.

2. Go to the library .

Pros: Free.
Cons: Can be a limited selection. You’re on a time limit, so you have to keep renewing the book. If you’re like me, you don’t like that added pressure sometimes.

3. Trade books on PaperbackSwap for cheap.

Pros: Own a book for $2-3. Big selection available.
Cons: Have to wrap and mail books to get credits. Receiving a book can take weeks. Quality of books can vary depending on sender. Few new releases available.

4. Buy new books at the bookstore.

Pros: New releases. That “new book” smell.
Cons: Sticker price.

5. Download free e-reader software on computers and smartphones and buy ebooks.

Pros: Software is free. Ebooks are cheap. Take your books anywhere on your phone.
Cons: Reading on smartphones can be hard on the eyes, reading on computer is less-than-comfortable for long periods of time.

6. Buy used books on Amazon.

Pros: Low price. Generally good quality. Excellent selection – pretty much any book you want. Free shipping on orders over $25.
Cons: Shipping charges if you just want one or two books. Have to wait for books to be shipped to you.

What’s the answer?

I don’t know yet. I think e-readers are getting very close to breaking through. If you show me an e-reader using the e-ink technology and works well (and looks slick enough) for under $100, I’m buying in. $150 is still just a little too pricey for me to buy (although I would take one as a gift!). What are your thoughts? With so many options for reading books, which one is the best for your situation and why?

[Not my leg.]

When was the last time you thought about how great walking is? It’s an incredible gift, isn’t it? You probably aren’t really thinking about it much. Allow me to explain.

I have a significant number of plantars warts on my right foot. Since starting my job, I’ve been going to the corporate clinic to have them treated. I’ve had them for nearly 10 years and nothing has gotten rid of them. I had only gone one other time to a doctor to work on them, and it cost me several hundred dollars, so I never went back for follow-up. This clinic is part of our company and it only costs $10 and appointment. It’s a sweet deal, and I want to be able to be barefoot and confident when I hit the Hawaiian islands in October. Two weeks ago, I had treatment #3.

For those who don’t know how you get rid of warts, basically you take a scalpel and cut off all the calloused skin protecting the wart. Then you freeze the crap out of the suckers so that the virus dies. Because mine are so old, they run pretty deep, so this process usually involves a little bit of blood and a fair amount of pain. The freezing part basically feels like getting stabbed in the foot the longer it goes on.

So I usually walk out of the doctor’s office with what somewhat amounts to several open wounds on the bottom and side of my foot. I limp for a day or two, and then it’s fine. But after treatment #3, I noticed the pain was getting worse. We had bandaged up the foot because it had bled quite a bit, and in the evening, I decided to peel back the bandage to check out the damage. To my surprise, I noticed that a large blood blister had begun to form right on the bottom of my foot. This blister would eventually swell to the size of a quarter and jut out about 1 cm off the bottom of my foot.

All right, you can stop shuddering. It’s not that gross.

Anyhoo, I was able to limp home that night, but when I woke up in the morning, it had swelled so much that I could not physically walk on my foot. I could hop along on my heel, but my heel bone didn’t like that too much. So, I had to bust out my dad’s old crutches and rely on those for four days, until the swelling went down enough that I could limp on it.

During that time, I realized what a gift the ability to walk really is. It’s one of those “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”-type abilities. All of a sudden, what was once a minor activity turned into a big project:

• Going upstairs to use the bathroom or cook
• Walk to and from the bathroom at work (I drink a lot of water at work, so this one is pretty significant to me)
• Going down a flight of stairs to get a cup of water at work
• Getting groceries
• Just stopping at a store to pick up something
• Getting food and drink from my kitchen area to my living room area
• Driving anywhere

All of these things became ten times more difficult, just because I couldn’t put weight on one of my feet. It’s amazing the things you don’t think of as gifts until they are taken from you. Of course, people in wheelchairs or young babies who still haven’t figured it out know the frustration caused by not being able to walk. But the rest of us don’t always appreciate that.

Think about the different abilities and gifts that you have been given that you may not even think about anymore. A few generations ago, some of these gifts weren’t even there:

• The ability to run down to the store and pick up food, rather than relying on your own harvest or hunting skills
• The ability to set foot on any part of the world within 24 hours or so
• The ability to propel a car many miles using just your foot
• Access to millions of computers and databases through the Internet
• The control over the atmosphere and environment in your house, regardless of the weather outside
• Being able to walk to the faucet and grab a drink of clean, fresh water whenever you feel like

And these are just a few. Take a little time to appreciate the little joys in life instead of complaining about the rest of it. Oh, and I had my 4th treatment yesterday, and it looks like another blister is forming. I guess I’ll be really appreciative once this ordeal is over…

There is just a crapload of good stuff in today’s Pile. Let’s dig in!

The (Practical) nerdy stuff

• The Hassle-Free Guide to Ripping Your Blu-Ray Collection [Lifehacker] – I’m a huge fan of digitizing DVDs and storing them on a secure, backed-up hard drive. I’m actually in the process of doing this again. But I had no firm instructions on backing up Blu-Rays. Here you go. This one went into my Evernote, and it should go into yours, too!
• Use Google Maps’ Starred Locations To Find Your Car [Lifehacker] – Most Blackberries, iPhones, Androids, and others have GPS capabilities now. This would work really well with my Blackberry Curve when parking in big, confusing parking lots. Slick idea!
• Why You’re Hooked On Email, and 5 Ways To Stop [Dumb Little Man] – One of the most glorious days of my life was when I stopped getting pop-up notifications of my e-mails. That’s just one way to cut down on this time-suck.
• How to Return Facebook’s Privacy Settings to What You Signed Up For [Lifehacker] – Facebook is getting very close to jumping the shark with me. How about you?
• The Realities Of Dropping Cable [The Simple Dollar] – It just makes me happy to see other people doing the same.
• The Set-It-and-Forget-It Guide to Never Missing Important Events [Lifehacker] – TV shows, movies, concerts, events, birthdays, money, cell phone minutes, job hunting… yeah, you need this.
• Clean Up Your Photo Collection With Free Tools [Lifehacker] – Geez, a lot of Lifehacker articles, as usual! I’m also a big proponent of digitizing your photo collection (again, to a backed-up, secure hard drive). Make it easier and more awesome with this guide.

A ridiculously giant pile of money articles

• A Cheapskate’s Advice on Affording Anything You Want [Lifehacker] – Personal finance takes thought. Not a whole lot of it, but some.
• Think the iPad Will Save You Money on Magazines? Think Again! [Wise Bread] – I held my first iPad the other day. It’s very nice and very slick. But it’s a toy. An incredibly expensive toy. Those that think it will save you money are fooling themselves.
• Three Passive Barriers I Use to Counter Consumerism [Get Rich Slowly] – A short video from Adam Baker demonstrates how to keep control of your spending mentally.
• 5 Ways To Save Money With Online Banks [Christian Personal Finance] – I’m a huge fan of my checking account with ING Direct, and this is a great list for those considering it.
• My Checklist to Financial Freedom [Christian Personal Finance] – Again, personal finance is not complicated. It just takes time and a little thought.
• Calling BS on 5% Rewards Advertising [Wise Bread] – This is a great, well-researched article that blows open the idea that you are getting 5% cash back on your credit card.
• How Large Should Your Emergency Fund Really Be? [Christian Personal Finance] – It’s an interesting debate, and there are plenty of arguments. However, what’s most important is that you have one.
• Looking The Wrong Way [The Simple Dollar] – An interesting view: we have a hard time fighting debt because we can’t actually see it or use it.
• Debt Consolidation and The "Orbital of Stupid" [The Simple Dollar] – Here’s what debt consolidators say: “Give us your money and we’ll manage it for you. You don’t have to change a thing.” But smart people know that the only way you will beat debt is by changing up your lifestyle and socking money at it. Knock off the consolidation. It doesn’t work.

Health: Physical, Mental, Social. It’s all important

• Anyone Can Spend Less for Food [Wise Bread] – I learned this on my own. Food, at its core, is not expensive. Processed food is what kills your budget.
• How to Improve Your Social Life: 6 of my Favorite Timeless Tips [The Positivity Blog] – I’m a firm believer that everyone should actively work on their social lives. Continue working hard to be a better friend.
• Newsflash: There Is No Magic Bullet [Dumb Little Man] – Easily my favorite post of the past couple of weeks. I struggle with this sometimes. It’s crucial to understand that any measure of success will take time and sacrifice. You’ll get there. So will I.
• How to Reboot Your Sleep Cycle and Get The Rest You Deserve [Lifehacker] – I’ve been caught countless times in webs of insomnia. This is a great article to get you back on track if you do the same.
• 10 Essential Kitchen Items for The Healthy Cook [Cheap Healthy Good] – Cooking healthy, like personal finance, doesn’t take a whole lot.
• Slow Down and Enjoy Relationships [Zen Habits] – Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. It’s time we start savoring our relationships instead of passing them by en route to somewhere else.
• 6 Reasons Why People Don’t Change, and What to Do About That [The Positivity Blog] – You want to change, but “can’t”, right? Yes, you can. Try these.
• Is The News Making You Sick? [Simple. Organized. Life] – I hate the news. I never watch it. Crime rates are down and the economy is on the mend. All you see on the news are tragedies, murders, kidnappings, and doom. Turn it off and get your news on your own. You’re better off.
• The Cost of Negativity [The Simple Dollar] – You’re losing time and money by being a cranky old butt. Knock it off and find some solutions.
• 7 Must Read Life Lessons From Abraham Lincoln [Dumb Little Man] – Smart guy, that Abe.
• Discipline Outdoes IQ in the Long Run [Lifehacker] – You think you just got a bad break? Get down to business and quit whining, and you can go places.
• 4 Ways to Spend Time With Kids When You Have No Time [Stepcase Lifehack] – Another great parenting article for struggling parents in the modern age.
• 11 Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Results [Stepcase Lifehack] – Feel like you’re spinning your wheels in the mud? There might be a reason why.
• What Is Manliness? [The Art of Manliness] – Hint: it’s not abs.
• Finding The Fire: Nine Things I Do To Make Each Day Great [The Simple Dollar] – You have more control over your day than you realize.
• Top 10 Ways To Upgrade Your Morning Routine [Lifehacker] – Are you getting up, limping along, sucking down coffee, and sitting at your computer? Get moving and jumpstart your day.
• 7 Harsh Truths That Will Improve Your Health [Dumb Little Man] – My favorite? “#1. Nobody is responsible for your health but you.”

That’s it! Enjoy – and feel free to share your favorites in the comments below!

Note to self: a Flickr search for “first birthday” will bring up a large number of pictures of crying babies.

On May 1st of last year, The Practical Nerd was born. It’s been a long and frustrating year, but endlessly rewarding as well. Here are some things I learned about life and blogging during the past 12 months:

Apple fanboys don’t care who you are. They will destroy you if given the chance. Don’t believe me? Check out the comments from this post, which morphed into the second-highest trafficked post on the site, just because I talked about how I don’t like Apple stuff.

Twitter is more than a bunch of narcissists. They are actually a very vibrant, giving community. I mean, yeah, the narcissists are out there, but a lot of them love to share content with each other and joke around a little bit. I like that.

No matter what you think, somebody is reading. If you’re an aspiring blogger and you don’t think somebody is reading, you’re wrong. I’m always surprised at the reaction I get on occasion from a little post here and there.

We all can afford the equipment to podcast. I have a cheap headset that I use for Skype calls, and I record in the free program Audacity. It really couldn’t get any easier.

You can hold a contest, but you can’t make them care. I got ONE entry from this contest I held back in September, and that’s only because the guy tweeted it to try and get me some reaction, and a tweet counted as an entry (thanks again, J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy!). He got the custom poster and proceeded to do nothing with it. I got one too, and I proceeded to do nothing with it. Maybe I should start looking into Amazon Gift Cards. Hmm…

Practical personal development is easier to write about than ‘90s pop culture. Devotees to this site know that I originally authored a blog called Vintage ‘90s, which now no longer exists. There was a wealth of content, but I lost all passion for it due to the difficulty and stress of trying to be funny. I don’t know how Cracked does it.

Money can’t drive your life – you need a bigger purpose. If your job is only there for monetary reasons, you’ll be miserable. You need to believe in what you are doing. I haven’t made a dime off this site. I’m here for the interaction and the exercise in writing.

Getting the “big boys” to notice isn’t hard. I’ve gotten small mentions on Zen Habits and Lifehacker, two of my favorite sites. All because I asked. And you’ll see below, Zen Habits gave me a crapload of traffic!

I should be doing this more. I’m not reaching out nearly enough.

15,306 visitors isn’t a lot on the Web, but I’m still proud. It’s pretty cool to think that my words have been read by 15,000 people. Pretty, pretty cool.

See those spikes up there? Those spikes are hope. This stuff is capable of driving traffic, and I didn’t buy that traffic. Sadly, that leveling off afterwards is a direct result of a failing business and a need for a 9-to-5 job for now, but it’ll be back. I have a feeling the next year will be much better…

Fourth of July was just plain fun. The highest spike up there (the left one) is from the July 4th, which was when I was linked to on Zen Habits. That was a lot of fun to watch that day.

On top of the numbers, this site has been viewed in 114 countries. When I started, I thought it was cool that Canadians were reading. I had no idea I had a Belgian following.

My cats are popular. Looking at the most-visited posts of the year, it’s clear that my cats have generated some interest. Rusty and Chandler are minor celebrities from one post that garnered the 3rd-most views on the site (and that includes the homepage!).

Original content rules. #10 on this list is a link to another site. The rest are all original posts done by me. Something for me to think about.

Comments from readers make it all worthwhile. The best moments I’ve had over the past year have been as a result of complete strangers commenting on my articles. That means I struck a chord with somebody. That’s the goal!

Here’s to another 12 months of awesomeness. Thanks for reading.

The Beatles knew it. Sometimes, we all need help. But asking somebody to give us a hand can really feel like pulling out your own teeth sometimes, doesn’t it? I’m a fiercely independent man. I won’t ask for help on something until I am completely backed into a corner.

Why are we scared to ask for help?

• It makes us look vulnerable. If you’re the type that likes being looked to as somebody who can get the job done in any situation, you hate asking for help just because you think it makes you look weak.
• It may inconvenience somebody else. Even if they tell you repeatedly that it’s not that big of a deal, you still feel guilty making somebody else compromise their time to bail you out.
• We don’t think we need it. To some degree, we all have that feeling that we can accomplish anything. We’ve been told that since birth (“you can do anything you set your mind to,” right?).

But asking for help isn’t a bad thing. You’ve heard of the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” That’s exactly what asking for help means. It means being smart. Anybody who’s had any success in this world understands that there are moments where you just need to ask for help.

Asking for a little help involves checking out a few things in your motives. First, there’s a distinct difference between wanting help and wanting someone to do the work for you. Don’t ask your buddy to come help you work on the car if you are just going to stand next to the car drinking a beer while he works on your transmission. If you want help working on the car, roll up your sleeves and have him assist you in fixing it (and learn something along the way!). It’s like falling down in a race – you don’t want somebody to come pick you up and carry you across the finish line; you just want someone to help get you off the ground so you can start running again. Plus, if you’re truly asking for help, you are demonstrating to those around you (and yourself) that you aren’t running from the problem. You want to tackle it head-on. If you need a little help, that’s okay.

So let’s take a look at some situations where you might want to ask for a little help.

School

Any readers out there still doing homework? Hey, just because I’m not anymore doesn’t mean I don’t have any college readers (or high school readers?). In any case, this is a great time to learn how to ask for help. Usually on TV and in movies, you see getting help with homework involves having a nerd give you answers, or duping the cute girl into dating you. We’re not discussing either of those things here. Make it worth the tutor’s time. Throw some money their way, or buy them something nice in exchange. If you happen to live in some pop culture cliché, you could teach them to be cool. When they are going over things, stop them and ask questions. Any good teacher wants you to ask questions: it shows you are paying attention and you care about the material. Have them explain the concepts behind that algebra problem or the philosophies that our Founding Fathers built on. The more you can inject yourself into the content, the easier this will be on both of you!

Career

Watching somebody try to move up the ladder in an office can be interesting. After all, there are a fair amount of people in the world stuck in their positions, complaining about their bosses, wishing they got more raises, and just reveling in their misery. If you want to get ahead, you need to get on your bosses’ radar. Schedule a sit-down with your boss and instead of asking “Can I get a raise?” or “When will you promote me?”, ask questions like “What can I do to get a raise?” or “What can I do to get me on track for a promotion?” Put it on you. Your boss will appreciate it. After all, it’s not his job to give you a raise – it’s your job to earn it.

Building a business? Talk to people who’ve done it successfully. That’s the biggest point. Offer something in return. Many businesspeople are happy to share ideas and concepts with budding entrepreneurs. They’ve been there!

Marriage/Relationships

This is probably the one that the fewest people ask for help with. Relationships, and particularly marriages, can be strained after long periods of time. Many couples don’t understand that this is a natural thing, and they simply give up. But if you actually want to work at your marriage (you know, that whole “for better or for worse” promise you made), then there’s nothing wrong with getting together and understanding that you need to see somebody. It’s a big step in your marriage, and it doesn’t mean you’re incompatible – it just means you are human and you need to work through some crap. Hopefully, you’re going to a church, so you could approach your pastor about it. Most pastors are trained and educated in counseling, so they’d be great resources for this sort of thing. Even if they can’t, they should know somebody reputable that they can refer you to. Having a strong faith together is a great resource to turn to when things get tough. Also, go into any couples therapy as a team – you aren’t there to fix the other person. You are there to fix the relationship, and that means both of you.

Addiction

Simply put: there’s a lot of crap in this world that your brain can get hooked on. A lot of times, doing it on your own does nothing. Again, to get help, find somebody who’s kicked it successfully. There are plenty of support groups out there that can coach you into getting it done. If you need to look for a reputable specialist, do so. And let go of the shame – the world looks much more favorably on somebody who recognizes his or her addiction and is mature enough to get help. If you’re fighting it, you’ve got respect. There is little compassion for somebody who is too proud to get help and lets it take them down. Don’t be that guy.

Emotional Support

We all need to share our feelings with somebody at times (yup, even us dudes!). The best way to do so is to talk with your significant other – or in absence of one of those, a close friend or family member. But don’t unload on the person. They are not there to dump your troubles on to. Spend some time relating feelings to each other, and then do something together to get your mind off the stress.

If you want to be successful when getting help, the main thing to understand is that it’s going to be hard. There’s no way around that, so face it head-on. Once you approach it like that, nothing can stop you except yourself. Get some help before it’s too late to fix it.