seanshannon.org

1. What’s a favorite shortcut of yours?
I can't think of any physical shortcuts right now, so instead I'll just mention what first came to mind when I read this question. When cutting and pasting on my computer, instead of using Ctrl-X and Ctrl-CV, I use Ctrl-Insert to copy something and Shift-Insert to paste it somewhere else. I can never remember the more traditional way of doing it (I had to look at the pull-down menus in Word just now to refresh my memory), and I find that using the Insert key is much faster for me. (If I actually need to cut something instead of copying it, I go Ctrl-Insert, Delete, then Shift-Insert.)

2. What’s something you insist on doing the long way?
Make bread. The family has a bread machine that is capable of some moderately tasty stuff, but when I make bread it's always by hand, with several rong rises. It takes forever, and all the bread I make has a tendency of coming out way too dense, but there's something therapeutic I find in making bread by scratch. Now if only I could find a way to work that bread into my diet so I'd have more excuses to make it.

3. What does your favorite pair of shorts look like?
Every pair of shorts I own are black, most of which are just old pairs of yoga pants or sweatpants with the legs cut off around mid-thigh. I have a nicer pair of shorts I bought at Meijer several years ago, but I don't wear them too often these days because I've lost so much weight that the waistband has become too loose.

4. Excluding classical music, what’s the longest song in your iTunes?
I don't use iTunes, but the longest piece of music I have on MP3 right now is the title track from Michael Jones' Seascapes, which clocks in at a hefty 20 minutes and 53 seconds, and also happens to be very good although not my favourite of Michael's pieces.

5. What’s the title of a short story you really like?
I could pick any number of Poppy Z. Brite's shorter works here, but for now let's go with "Monday's Special" from her short story collection Are You Loathsome Tonight? It's always been a favourite of mine for showing how Brite's mastery of language lets her tell a story with such rich detail in so short of a space.

Comment by joepet at 8/6/07 19:24:
1. There's a narrow twisting path along a mountain near my home that gets saves about 30 seconds over the regular way...but it's my favorite at night time when I come home, and I try to ride my bike through it as fast as I can in the pitch blackness. It's like a thrilling roller coaster ride with the added element of real danger.

2. Nothing. I want to get things that I have to do none as quickly as possible so I can get back to slacking off.

3. Light blue, loose fitting blue jeans that go just about down to my knees.

4. The live recording of Supper's Ready by Genesis from the Seconds Out album, clocking in at 24:33

5. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

Comment by Don at 8/6/07 21:52:
1.) Using ^ in unix for string replacement. If I typed "vi foo.txt" the last time out and want to edit bar.txt, I can just type "^foo^bar", and voila.

2. I take a longer route to work. With the Prius, I save gas that way.

3. Dark blue denim shorts.

4. "Mei", by echolyn. I have 120 songs longer than what Sean listed, and one that is exactly 20:53... and 62 longer than the Seconds Out version of "Supper's Ready" (include three other versions of "Supper's Ready"...)

5. Right now, "Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk. Not for the faint at heart, mind you.

Comment by joepet at 10/6/07 06:46:
Hey, we brought a Prius in March. It's awesome! Getting over 50MPH, even though we rarely travel more the 20 MPH in all the stop and go traffic in our area.

Comment by Sean at 10/6/07 14:34:
Now that I think about it, I wonder if I should count Catherine Marie Charlton's River Dawn in the MP3 thing. Although it is broken up into nine tracks, it is one single piece lasting over an hour. Hmm.