It’s a rather apt word for how life has been lately between preparing for the arrival of Malcolm Tennant, the demands of clients, family, podcasting, and the slow but deliberate revival of our network of sites.

I would like to say that all of the excitement has left me with little time to write, but I would be lying. I’ve had plenty of time to write. I’ve just had great difficulty in organizing my thoughts into any kind of coherent order and I’ve had even more difficult in prioritizing what I should say if I could organize them. That may not be a bad thing…

I’ve been expending my creative energies in other areas lately. Podcasting has been getting a lot of my attention. We’ve even been experimenting with live video podcasts on Nothing Serious, but after repeated crashes of my podcasting laptop whenever I used Google Hangouts (even though 3 way video chat on Skype works without a hitch), we decided that wasn’t the route to go. Daniel, Steven and I did actually record one hangout, but upon reflection we have decided to go “audio only” and not split our attention. We’re simply going to produce the best damn audio podcast we can. Period.

Expending energy, not just the creative kind, is a priority. Not that I have an overabundance of energy, but I do have an overabundance of overstuffed adipocytes. Needless to say I’m back on the low-carb boat and working out every day. I don’t know how well that’s working yet. I’ve been back at it for 5 days but lack the courage to stand on the scale.

The lack of desire to stand on the scales is not because I don’t think the diet changes and exercise is working, it’s because I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed by the results. Silly I know, but what can you do? At least Sara puts up with me, eh?

Maybe the exercise will shake loose some of the grey matter that occupies the space between my ears and I’ll start writing more? We can hope!

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Tumultuous

Kim had been struggling against cancer and several chronic conditions for many years.

Steven has been unable to work outside the home for several years due to the caring for Kim during the course of her illnesses.

Throughout this time Steven has given a lot of himself to the tech community. He’s worked on many projects, podcasts and contributed to many sites with me, and I’m sure that if you read tech online you’ve probably encountered him at some point or another.

Sara and I would like to give back and support Steven in his time of grief and ensure that Kim’s cremation expenses are not another burden on him during this difficult time.

Steven has been a mentor to myself and others online, and we would very much like to see the online community give back to someone who has given it so much over the past decade, by contributing to this fundraiser.

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Please Support The Kim Hodson Cremation Fundraiser

Steven Hodson joined Daniel and myself on a Google Hangout for last nights Nothing Serious Podcast. It was the first time we tried one, and it takes some getting used to, but I am confident that with a bit of practice the video will be as good as the all important audio podcast.

This weeks topics included Call of Duty: Ghost, the next Xbox, Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, Dailymotion, Google Glass, privacy, rainwater and more…

A full list of links mentioned in the show can be found on the Nothing Serious Podcast site.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:45 — 27.9MB)

Leave a comment – call us at 251-281-8730.

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Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Nothing Serious Podcast – Facebook Ghosts (Google Hangout)

As a long-term user I really appreciate it when you send coupons for free advertising to my clients and myself. It’s always a great way to make sure that we test out new features or simply to pull time away and devote a little time to tweaking our advertising campaigns for greatest benefit.

Free stuff is always awesome, and we love it! You know we do!

On the other hand, free stuff that we can not use is not awesome.

For example, today I received $150 credit for AdWords that would be enabled as long as we spent $50 (which we do in no time at all). That brought such happy joy, joy feelings to my heart and put a big old smile on my face. It’s the little things…

But then I flipped the sheer over and read the small print. In order to use the promotional credit I needed to have an AdWords account which is less than 14 days old.

My smile quickly disappeared and look of confusion crept across my face as I tried to understand why on earth Google would send this to me – a card, a brochure, and a letter all wrapped in Google envelope, while making a point of using paper from “responsible sources”?

I was under the impression that the use of “responsible sources” also meant that you used the product responsibly?

Maybe I got that one wrong?

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Clearly Google AdWords Does Not Care About Trees

Daniel and I get geeky and then get political in the latest Nothing Serious Podcast as we discuss everything from the new Xbox, the deliverability problem of Kickstarter and whether or not birth control should be made available without prescription.

A full list of links mentioned in the show can be found on the Nothing Serious Podcast site.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:35 — 26.4MB)

Leave a comment – call us at 251-281-8730.

SUBSCRIBE: -  iTunes (One click) | iTunes (page) | Stitcher | Winamp | Google | Other | RSS

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Nothing Serious Podcast – The Lowest Common Denominator

In honor of “Ask an Atheist Day“, Daniel and I are joined on this weeks show by atheist and internet activist Ryan Burkhart. We get stuck into a wide range of topics including zombies, Max Brooks, Google, Drones, Pope Francis, illegal downloading at the Vatican, Facebook’s double standards, and more…

A full list of links mentioned in the show can be found on the Nothing Serious Podcast site.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:16:58 — 35.3MB) Leave a comment – call us at 251-281-8730.

SUBSCRIBE: -  iTunes (One click) | iTunes (page) | Stitcher | Winamp | Google | Other | RSS

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Nothing Serious Podcast – Atheist! Ask Us Anything

This week Daniel and I  get joined on the Nothing Serious Podcast by our special guest Steven Hodson of Winextra and Geek Dimensions. It’s a bit of a podcasting reunion for Steven and I.

This week we cover Kickstarter marketing, state religion in North Carolina, Adam Orth and Twitter marketing blunders, Aereo, Facebook happy emotions, what happens to your Google data after you die, and Reddit murder confessions.

• No state religion for North Carolina
• Adam “Always Online” Orth no longer employed at Microsoft
• News Corp. Threatens to Pull Free Fox Programming in Aereo Dispute
• Why I Need Aereo TV — And You Do, Too
• Facebook Asks You To Please Select Your Emotion
• Redditor Confesses Murder, Then Disappears
• Google Inactive Account Manager

Intro & outro music – “Tremblin’” by Freeky Clean & Creedence Jr.

Leave a comment – call us at 251-281-8730.

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Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to Nothing Serious Podcast – Always Online

It is not our job to see that anyone gets an education. It is not the responsibility of me, you, or any constituent in my district to pay for his or any other persons education. Their GPA, ACT ASAB, determination have nothing to do with who is responsible. Their potential to benefit society is irrelevant.

Lessig explains in a wonderful rapid-fire way an issue with politics that I have ranted on about for years (mostly to people who were too polite to run away) – funding and where it comes from.

The funding issue, or more particularly the effect that soliciting for funding has on politicians is one of the reasons that we get such as disparity between what politicians are supposed to do in serving people, and what they actually do and seem to believe.

Posted by Paul to Paul O'Flaherty, 2013. | Permalink to TED Talk – Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim