Author Archives: Devin Reams

About Devin Reams

My name is Devin Reams and I founded this site to provide a useful news and review resource for Colorado skiers and snowboarders (and mountain enthusiasts). I've been skiing since I was a little kid (we moved out here when I was five years old) and I plan to ski for years beyond that. Although cosnow is not my full-time job it is my full-time winter hobby. I've been an "Epic Local" passholder since 2006 (when it was called a "Colorado Pass" or "Five Mountain Pass"). My favorite resorts are Beaver Creek and Breckenridge.

Your current possessions

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>You will need to divide your current possessions into four major categories.
>1. Beautiful things.
>2. Emotionally important things.
>3. Tools, devices, and appliances that efficiently perform a useful function.
>4. Everything else.

[The Viridian Design Movement](http://www.viridiandesign.org/2008/11/last-viridian-note.html)

Found via [David’s Log](http://www.davidslog.com/806912418/i-just-wanted-to-give-credit-for-liquidity-is-the) and [Tim Shey](http://tim.shey.net/post/810861819/credit-and-stuff), this is an excellent read on a recurring theme in thinking about possessions; from quantity to quality.

You should include your email address in your signature

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Most people will argue that your signature should not include your email address. It’s overkill; it’s redundant. Sure, for one-on-one conversations it makes make no sense: you just emailed them.

But, if you’re forwarding an email or get involved in a thread later, your email client usually does not include full email addresses in the quoted reply/forward content.

Thus, you see “Jim Smith” was looped in early on but don’t have his email address to loop him back in. Or you are forwarded a message that needs follow up but all it says down below is “From: Mark Johnson (Acme Co).” What now, Mark?

Plus, you may have a dozen different accounts that end up at the same inbox. Adding your email address in your signature helps you communicate your preferred address and avoid misdirection in the future.

Ensuring your email address is somewhere in your initial message avoids these situations. No matter how much we use it, email is hard sometimes… let’s make it a little easier for each other.

23andme for adoptees

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There has been plenty of coverage of [23andme](http://23andme.com), lately[^1]. Like any self-respecting nerd (I took three years of biology in high school) I had my own DNA analyzed. If you’re not aware: you send a spit sample which is reviewed for known DNA markers to help identify traits, your propensity towards certain diseases and ancestry.

While I agree the ability to learn more about diseases (as an individual and the scientific community at-large) is an amazing step, I’m also interested in learning what was previously dismissed as un-knowable. Having been adopted at birth, I’ve only had a superficial understanding of my ancestry. Not knowing my biological family, I’ve had no insight into any history of diseases or traits, either.

For many people, they can say “grandma had Parkinson’s, and her sister did, too” and understand there is a chance they’re pre-disposed to this disease. Or people can look at their father and say “well that’s where these freckles came from.” Though incidental, these are experiences and conversations I’ve never had throughout my life.

It’s interesting to me how 23andme has closed a gap that some might not even be aware of. It’s helped shift knowledge back to the individual.

[^1]: I always point people to the WIRED article about [Sergey Brin’s search for a Parkinson’s disease cure](http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/06/ff_sergeys_search/).

AmazonTote

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Place an order with AmazonTote and you get free batched “shipping” to your door once a week. No minimums, no obligations, no subscription. If you have Amazon Prime then you have two delivery days available each week. At first I thought this might cannibalize Prime subscriptions (I only have Prime so I can get free shipping in just a few days) but this just extends the benefit.

Game Tonight?

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One of [Crowd Favorite’s](http://crowdfavorite.com/) recent [workshop](http://crowdfavorite.com/workshop/) projects has been to answer the question: [is there a (professional sports) game tonight that would affect my commute](http://gametonight.in/)? Now there’s a simple web app to answer that. Even living downtown, I think to myself “why are there so many people in my bar tonight?” and quickly I realize there’s a baseball game down the street. Additionally, Apple recently selected it as a [Web App Staff Pick](http://crowdfavorite.com/news/2010/06/game-tonight-selected-as-apple-web-app-staff-pick/).

iPad is for consumption, so what?

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People think that the iPad is going to destroy a lot of wonderful things about computers: [tinkering](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2010/01/29/tinkerers-sunset) and [programming](http://al3x.net/2010/01/28/ipad.html), [creating](http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/04/04/ipad-danger-app-v-web-consumer-v-creator/) and publishing. So what does that leave us with? Consumption. Or in other words, being an audience.

I’ve heard this labeled as a problem: something to the clever tune of a “120% consumption rate” or: we have more people consuming than producing content online.

So what?

– I read much more in-depth articles and stories thanks to the excellent [Instapaper](http://instapaper.com/) app.
– I have read more books in the past year using iBooks and Kindle than of anything printed on paper.
– I’ve watched almost all 700 [TEDtalks](http://ted.com/) posted online.
– I can skim many more RSS feeds thanks to NetNewsWire and Reeder.

In short, I learn more, read more, and find more interesting thoughts and opinions that prompt me to write and share my own.

I don’t see anything wrong with this. In fact, I think this is a great thing. I’m spending more time with higher-quality content than if I were to turn on the TV, throw in a DVD, or spend 30 minutes browsing friend’s photos on Facebook.

Steve Jobs has famously said:

>You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.

By this definition, I feel the iPad is a computer and I bet Steve agrees. Many others are categorizing it as a television. People are not simply picking up iPads to turn off their brains (arguably Plants vs Zombies is a game *dedicated* to brains, but I digress), many are also picking up a new device that allows for meaningful consumption.

WordCamp Boulder 2010

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As with last year[^1], [Crowd Favorite](http://crowdfavorite.com/) will be hosting and organizing the local [WordCamp conference for the Denver/Boulder area](http://2010.boulder.wordcamp.org). If you don’t know, WordCamp is a WordPress conference for people of various backgrounds and interests (it’s like no other conference I can think of). I’m excited to see how our [Hydeified](http://andrewhy.de) approach works out this year. We’re always open to suggestions and ideas, feel free to reach out.

[^1]: I organized WordCamp Denver 2009 at the Denver Art Museum. I wrote a [recap](http://wordpress.reams.me/wordcamp-denver-2009-organizer-recap/) here.

People lie to the press

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We’re doing the best we can, we’re fixing mistakes. But what happens is — people lie. And then they run to the press and tell people about this oppression, and they get their 15 minutes of fame. We don’t run to the press and say “this guy is a son of a bitch liar!” — we don’t do that.

Steve Jobs’ candid thoughts on ‘app store’ backlash at D8 (via Engadget)