Mike Branski

1 minute read

Whew, this week certainly flew by. Although it didn’t feel like it as it was happening, it doesn’t seem like tomorrow should be Friday already. The past 24-36 hours I’ve found myself struggling to focus a bit – even more so than usual. A sore throat and occasional headache that are riding a cold can do that, though.

Mike Branski

3 minute read

What a whirlwind of a month! These past 30 some days have been pretty crazy and moving at light speed. Last month, about mid-way through my novel, I started to really slow down. I decided I’d write a blog post to jump-start my creative juices before each writing session. Well, that lasted all of two posts. While it helped warm up my literary muscles, it also delayed my noveling by another 20-30 minutes. Given that I wouldn’t typically start writing until after 7:00 or 8:00 at night, and was…

Mike Branski

2 minute read

Holy crap, did anyone see October? I swear, it was just September, then I blinked, and suddenly Halloween has come and gone without much ado, the first snow has fallen, and we’re 12 days into November. I’m going to have to ask Katie if she’s figured out when October is so I can be better prepared next year.

Mike Branski

4 minute read

Every once in a while I come across a post such as this from the blog of Tim Ferriss:
Engineering a “Muse” – Volume 4: Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses. Then I get inspired (again) and want to jump into “engineering my muse.” You see, I do this a lot, with many aspects of my life. I get an idea about something, maybe do a little research into it, then forget about it for a while until something comes along and sparks my interest again, and I repeat the cycle all over.

Mike Branski

4 minute read

Let’s see, the last time I talked about my stormtrooper project was almost a month ago. Despite not sharing my progress here, I *have* been hard at work on it (okay, okay, I’ve had my bouts of laziness and procrastination with it, too). I’ve been keeping friends updated through chat, and keeping The RPF community updated in my build thread over there. I can’t stress enough how awesome that community is and how instrumental they’ve been in my inspiration for and knowledge of this project.…

Mike Branski

2 minute read

I’ve come across more and more people lately who are unfamiliar with OS X’s Spotlight, so I figured I’d give a quick intro to to help them out. If you prefer using menus over keyboard shortcuts, you may not like it, but, then again, you just might surprise yourself. Being a heavy shortcut user I absolutely love it, but I also cannot find my way around using a menu for the life of me. It’s a blessing and a curse!

Mike Branski

1 minute read

I recently turned on email notifications for “Likes” for Left Right Designs, because I think it’s exciting when you’re small and in the growing stages, so it’s cool to see it progress.

Mike Branski

4 minute read

I recently began working quietly on one of my better-kept secrets: I want to build a full set of stormtrooper armor. I’ve never really built a costume before – just your typical stuff in grade school, nothing crazy – but I’m tackling the creation of screen-accurate stormtrooper gear. How cool is that‽ (Strangely, I think that’s the first time I’ve used an interrobang here.)

Mike Branski

2 minute read

You see? This is the why Facebook birthday wishes are little more than empty husks of what was once a kind and generous act: wishing someone a happy day of celebration on the day they were born. It’s become such a mindless, effortless task that we do it with hardly a thought for what we’re doing and what it used to mean. We see it’s someone’s birthday, and we wish them a happy one. Have you talked to that person since the last time you wished them a happy birthday? No? Does it matter? Nope! At…