Matt Margolis

I am happy to tell my readers here that on Christmas morning I asked my girlfriend Beth to marry me…

…and she said yes.

I have lots more to say… but I also have an apartment that is in serious need of cleaning after a long battle with wrapping paper and scotch tape… so I will tell you all more later

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…and for those who have been asking about the ring:

Since it’s the end of the year, I thought I’d post my typical year-end lists for the year.

Top Five Books I Bought In 2008 And Plan To Finish In 2009

1. Primary Colors, by Anonymous
2. Johnny One-Eye, by Jerome Charyn
3. Cross Country, James Patterson
4. On Beauty, Zadie Smith
5. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo

I bought a lot of books in 2008, but didn’t finish or start as many as I would have liked. I suspect that 2009 will be a better year for my fiction reading.

Top Five Movies Seen in 2008:

1. Pineapple Express
   
2. The Dark Knight
   
3. Juno
4. The Bucket List
5. Cloverfield

Other movies I saw that were good, but don’t make the top 5: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Smart People, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Wall-E, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. The movie Juno makes this list even thoughI saw it in 2007 because I saw it after I posted last year’s Top 5 list.

Top Four Movies I Will Wait To See on DVD

1. Zack and Miri
   
2. Quantum of Solace
3. Role Models
4. The Incredible Hulk

There weren’t many movies I really wanted to see in 2008, and there weren’t many that I had to choose from that I missed.

Top Three New Books To Read 2009

1. Juliet Naked, by Nick Hornby
2. 8th Confession, by James Patterson
3. Ape House, by Sara Gruen

Missing from this list is the next installment of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series — which has gotten worse and worse each installment. I will read the next one… but I can’t say I am looking forward to it. Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club Series has stayed strong and I look forward to that one. Of course, the book I am anxiously awaiting is Nick Hornby’s new novel, with the working title Juliet Naked, due out in the fall. Sara Gruen’s next novel is also highly anticipated. I loved her previous novel, Water For Elephants, and hope that Ape House will be just as good.

Top Five Movies I’m Planning To See In 2009:

1. Atlas Shrugged
2. Revolutionary Road
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
4. An Education
   
5. Terminator Salvation
   

Atlas Shrugged and Revolutionary Road were both on last year’s list (I read both novels). However, the release date Atlas Shrugged was pushed to 2009, and Revolutionary Road will only have a limited release before the New Year.

Top Five iPhone Apps:

1. Facebook App
2. Twittelator Pro
3. Amazon
4. Shazam
5. Ebay

Lots of good apps to choose from…. These would probably be the ones I use most frequently. It tis great to keep track of things on Facebook and Twitter, or to easily make purchases on Amazon and bids n eBay. Shazam has been a valuable tool for identifying songs on the radio I liked but didn’t know, or couldn’t remember at all.

If I have any more lists for the year, I’ll post them here as updates.

My switch to Dvorak has also brought me to switch to ergonomic split keyboards. I bought a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite for work, a recently got the Goldtouch for Mac Adjustable Keyboard for home. The Goldtouch keyboard has been a big disappointment for me and I have decided to return it. The biggest  problem I have had with it is the sensitivity of keys being different than what I am used to. The bizarre arrangement of some feature keys has also been an issue.  I would like a split ergonomic keyboard designed for the Mac, but I have yet to find the right one. Adesso has such a keyboard but the ‘6′ key is on the right side of the split, which is not how it should be.

So the search continues. If I don’t find a good enough split ergonomic keyboard designed for the Mac soon I may just get a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite (which feels great) and use Mac keyboard stickers on the ‘Ctrl,’ ‘Windows,’ and “Alt” keys to give me the Dvorak keyboard layout. 

If you are a fellow Dvorak typist and iPhone user like myself, help get the word out.

Today I learned about an alternative to the QWERTY and Dvorak… Colemak. While I am committed to fully switching to Dvorak, I decided to see what Colemak was all about. The short version of my discoveries is the following:

1. Colemak maintains certain key positions from the QWERTY layout (CVXZ - corresponding to the most common shortcuts), making it easy to learn.
2. Colemak moves backspace to Caps Lock’s position.
3. Both are superior to QWERTY, but neither are significantly superior to the other.
4. Dvorak is a built in alternative layout in Mac OS X and Windows. Colemak requires software.

Personally since my plan is to totally rid myself of QWERTY, holding over positions to make the transition easier is not a huge plus to me. If there were significant advantages to Colemak over Dvorak I might have been tempted to give it a try… but I am happy with Dvorak and will keep at it. Carpalx has some good data on alternative keyboard layouts.

This site has this to say about switching to Colemak:

As I’ve said, Colemak is slightly better than Dvorak and more similar to Qwerty (thus easier to learn) but you must install it, whereas Dvorak comes with pretty much every operating system. Your choice.

If you’re already using Dvorak, switching u and i and moving Backspace to Caps Lock wipes away most of the small advantage Colemak has over Dvorak.

I do like the idea of swapping backspace and Caps Lock…  And I also see the merits behind swapping the u and the i.

UPDATE: Matt Mullenweg is a Dvorak typist.

It has now been roughly a week since I made the switch from QWERTY to Dvorak. It certainly hasn’t been easy. Using QWERTY for over twenty years certainly makes changing difficult. In order to do things right, I changed key maps at home and at work.

As a blogger, the first stage of transition made blogging very frustrating… so frustrating that at times I was tempted to use QWERTY when I needed to do blog. But the more I have typed with Dvorak the better and faster I have gotten.

I just purchased an ergonomic split keyboard which has helped tremendously in forcing me to use the correct hand for the correct keys… and my accuracy has definitely improved. Currently I am using the new keyboard without any stickers on the keys. I am using a printed diagram though since my fingers haven’t memorized the key positions yet.

I am generally pleased with my progress. I hope to continue to improve my accuracy over the following week and then work on improving my speed. If I can type quickly and accurately without a printed diagram and without looking at the keys after another three weeks I will be very happy.

As previously noted, I am switching from QWERTY  to Dvorak.

I have made the appropriate adjustments on my MacBook at home and my Dell at work.

The Problem: The iPhone doesn’t support Dvorak yet… the fact that it doesn’t at this point makes me wonder a) why not? and b) will they ever?

Due to recent issues with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I have decided to switch from the QWERTY keyboard layout to the Dvorak simplified keyboard layout. It won’t be an easy transition, but should help in the long run.

Until I become proficient in Dvorak, I am using keyboard stickers. Maybe I will someday invest in a real Dvorak keyboard. There is a long way to go…

UPDATE: Useful freeware for training with Dvorak (Mac OS X)…