Mike Industries

Ten Things I Am Thankful For

1. Seattle — If the rest of the world knew that we actually have more livable weather than Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Arizona, Atlanta, and even most of Florida, everyone would live here. When it rains, it only mists, and when it’s sunny it’s one of the most beautiful places in the country. If you like to waterski, hike, bike, run, snowboard, climb, boat, golf, shop, parasail, or just about anything else outdoors, you owe it to yourself to visit the Puget Sound region. Come during the summer months and you’ll never leave.
2. Bloglines.com — Simply put, Bloglines is the most useful site on the internet. If you’ve been putting off using an RSS newsreader because you don’t want to deal with yet another application, try setting your home page to Bloglines.com and setting up a profile of news feeds. Unlike client side newsreaders, Bloglines is automatically in sync no matter what computer you happen to be at. Even if you’re in a remote corner of the world on your Treo 600 cell phone, you can check your news and blogs through the genius that is Bloglines.
3. iPhone — It is the world’s best portable device ever, period. Beautiful form factor, great feature set, and sexy as hell. If you have six bills to burn, I highly recommend partaking in the glory that is the iPhone.
4. Dreamhost — Best affordable web hosting ever, for $7.95 a month. Kind of a no brainer.
5. Series 3 Tivo — More than any other product I’ve ever used, Tivo is the one thing you don’t know how much you need until you get it. Unlike the mixed opinions people always give you about their VCRs, I’ve never heard one person tell me they don’t love their Tivo. And if you’re going to take the plunge, I highly recommend the Series 3 High Definition Tivo. The built-in two tuners let you record two shows simultaneously while watching a third.
6. OS X — I’ve used Macintoshes since 1984 but I have to admit that around the time the first iMac came out, I was losing hope. Until Panther, all OS X builds seemed very slow and limited compared to their Windows counterparts. I finally broke down and bought a Sony Vaio laptop in order to give the PC a try for a bit. Three reformats and 6 months later, I leapt right off the short bus and back into the sports car that is now OS X. Tiger screams and if you’ve ever thought about switching from Windows to Mac, just do it.
7. 12 inch PowerBook — I like my desktops big and burly and my laptops small and sleek. Before the 12 inch Powerbook came out, you had to go all the way back to the DuoDock in the early 1990s before you could find a powerful Apple laptop in a small enclosure. When the 12 inch Powerbook came out, my prayers were answered and I bought one before Steve Jobs’ speech was even over. It’s perfect for doing presentations in offices, watching movies on planes, or hooking up to a 21 inch CRT to get some real design done.
8. Adium — Simply the best multi-protocol instant messaging client available. Incredibly thoughtful and flexible interface.
9. Trader Joe’s Frozen Pizza — Ok, let me get this straight. Someone in Italy handtosses a pizza with fresh ingredients, someone else packages it up, someone else ships it across the Atlantic to the east coast, someone else drives it across the country to Seattle, someone else delivers it to my local Trader Joe’s store, someone else sells it to me at the register for three dollars, and somehow, someone is making money off of this??? What? This is quite possibly the best pizza I’ve ever had outside of Italy and yes, it’s three dollars at your local Trader Joe’s. Make sure you buy the large flat one which says “Made in Italy” and you won’t be disappointed.
10. Taylor Made Driver — Drive for show, putt for dough. Just about every Taylor Made driver I’ve ever owned has been money off the tee. Current weapon: Left-Handed R7 driver with a 9.5 degree loft, a stiff shaft, and a bad attitude.