I’ve never been a huge reader of physical books. In school I did what I had to do, but never really read for pleasure. In my career I have kept abreast of things by simply reading blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, and the occasional audio book. I often wondered why people would even use such ancient technology as a paper book, given the aforementioned methods of consumption. Lately this change has reversed for me. I am still not reading very many books for pleasure, but am starting to buy [and read!], more books for “life”.

Why the change? A little more than a year ago I listened to an audiobook called “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. This book seriously changed my life.

Since then, I have become quite the Dave Ramsey fanboy. One thing Dave likes to say is “In 5 years, you’ll be exactly the same person, except for the people you meet, and the books you read”. I have taken this to heart.

So far, two books have really changed my life, and I believe, have also made a serious impact on my (and my family’s) future:

• The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
• Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker

Had a great hike yesterday with family, friends, and the pup at the Devil’s Punch Bowl. All the pics are here.

I have been a long time Firefox user. In the last several years, I have become incredibly “dependent” on several plugs. Some of these, I cringe at the thought of living without (Firebug for example). For this reason, I have been pretty reluctant to really even try another browser.

Well, after watching the Google IO conference and their talk about “Installable Web Apps”, I decided to give Chrome a real try.

Long story, short, there is no way I can go back. The web just seems to move so much faster as a whole with Chrome. When I do occasionally switch back to Firefox, it feels incredibly slow, cluttered, and clunky in comparison.

Another item worth noting, that made my transition so much smoother, is Xmarks. Install Xmarks as a plugin in both Chrome and Firefox, and your bookmarks are automatically synced between the two.