A Day in That Place

Get Back Up

2009-03-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

One of the blogs that has been feeding me great ideas for quite a while now is called The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferris. To describe his blog, I would use the tags: Business, Travel, Lifestyle, Writing, Performance, Languages, Ideas, Inspiration

Surprisingly, I had never seen this video that he posted, nor heard about the person in it. I am currently going through some really difficult things, starting some amazing things, learning a lot about myself, friends, and the world, and although this will easily be on of those months in my life that I look back on and say "Wow, yeah, January/February/March/... 2009? THAT was a crazy time!", I will be able to come back to this video again and again (Yay Intertubes!) as a never ending font of support, encouragement, and inspiration.

I keep trying to remind myself that as difficult as the things I am dealing with are, now is not the time to give in to doubt, fear, or weakness. NOW is the time to see just how deep my strength and belief in self really go.

He closed his post with this line, and I cannot do better:

"Get back up. Bigger and better things are waiting for you."

Statement of Rights for those who Voted

2008-10-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

I, (insert name here), hereby declare:

Upon the initiation of any vaguely political conversation in the next four years (from 10/28/08 to 10/28/12), I reserve the right to begin my participation in said conversation with the following statement:

Did you vote in '08?

If you respond in the negative, I further reserve the right to ridicule, demean, disrespect, and ignore any further political statements issuing from your pie hole.

In addition, if I am within earshot of anyone encouraging or participating in conversations about taxes, military actions, civil rights, abortion rights, gender equality, or the perception of the United States on the world stage, I further reserve the right to derail said conversation with the statement:

Did you vote in '08?

...followed with a pointed inquiry as to why not, and barring extenuating circumstances, I will proceed to remind you that you LOST YOUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN BY NOT VOTING!

I will happily have conversations on the merits or perils of a flat tax, separate but equal treatment of any specific group, or the rights of the unborn. We will debate these issues and others long into the night, and possibly end the conversation on completely different sides of the issue, but if you did not vote...

Voting is a duty.

Voting is a privilege, that many people have fought for and some have died for.

Make your voice heard, and if you do not, then you have no further political weight with me.

Signed this 28^th day of October, 2008

-(Insert name here)

I Have Hope

2008-10-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

After the 5^th time of getting to the bottom of this page, and finding myself with my fingers crossed for another "Show More Images" link, I realized that possibly the most influential attribute that Barack possesses is his authenticity. He is a human being, husband, father, American, and probably lastly, a politician. These attributes seem to be so easily captured in images of him, that there is no room for doubt as to his desire to improve the United States, and our reputation on the world stage, for the benefit of all US citizens, and all World citizens.

These all come from one photographer, Callie Shell, shooting for Time magazine.

I am proud, for the first time since being able to vote, to be able to do my part, no matter how small, to raise my hand, voice, wallet, and most importantly, my ballot marking device, to say to the world, and my fellow American Citizens, that I too have had enough, I have hope, and that it is time for historic change. I hope, one gray-haired day in my future, to be able to tell the grandchild on my knee, that yes, I voted for Barack Hussein Obama.

I have hope again.

The following list of traits, captured by one photographer, should be MANDATORY, but sadly are not, for the President of the United States, and preferably for all elected officials.

(EDIT: I seem unable to link directly to the images that represent these traits. Please go to her page, and try to guess which pictures represent these traits)

Compassionate Human Being
Husband
Father
Frugal footwear
Tears of hope
Inspirational
Responsibility and attention to detail

1... 2... 3:45... 6/7/08

2008-06-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

No, I am not going to start posting nothing but videos, but WOW! San Francisco, Union Square, Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet", flash mob dance performance. Oh, and my hottie McHot wife? With a very well produced video of the entire event. Now aren't you sad you weren't there?

[ADDITION]
I just got my pictures from the day posted to Flickr. It was a fantastic day in San Francisco, the kind that we rarely get to enjoy. Have fun with the pics!

Performance Art WOW!

2008-06-07T00:37:00.001-07:00

I have never tried embedding a video before, mostly because video is pretty personal taste-y... But for this guy, I gotta try

5:30 and worth every second of it.

Definition: Idea Trucker

2008-05-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

All right, the first thing that we have to do, is break down the two words individually. I think these should be pretty straightforward:

i·de·a -noun
any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.

Good enough, pretty much anything in your head. Easy. Everybody should be able to get this one as well:

truck·er -noun
a person whose business is trucking goods.

Hmmm... goods. I think we are about to see a little theme here in truck land. I thought trucking was a verb, but in the interest of thouroughness, I looked it up too, and what do you know? That theme I was talking about?

truck·ing -noun
the art or business of conveying articles or goods on trucks.

Trucking is an ART! I knew that they were under appreciated, but how do you think most truckers would react if you called them artists? Labels sure can do funny things, huh? But I digress... So if you are conveying or moving articles or goods (objects) you are a Trucker. But how about if you are conveying or moving things that are not quite so material? Things like ideas? Now we get to the compounded definition for this phrase:

i·de·a truck·er -noun
A person whose business is conveying any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity on trucks.

Hmmm... Not quite perfect. Can't get ideas onto trucks (they're slippery little buggers), besides, this is a little wordy for a dictionary. Let's try a few slight changes:

i·de·a truck·er -noun
A person whose business is conveying any conception from one mind to another.

There we go. And I hope I just made my first delivery to you of many. Please sign here.

ROWE - An Alternative Business Model

2008-05-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

After reading about Best Buy's experiment with a ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) on Tim Ferris' blog yesterday (Part One, Part Two), I started thinking about my job specifically. It started on my commute to work, and when I got in to the office, part two of this article had been posted, and I had messages from 80% of the team that I work with saying that they would be working from home (WFH) for today. Well, it WAS a Friday before a long weekend, but that is not really relevant to this...

I then had the following IM conversation with my (ostensible) supervisor, who is a peer (except maybe on an org. chart):

Me: Why am I here?
Me: And I don't mean that in the metaphysical sense!
My supervisor: hahaha you must be all alone
Me: Why is my meat in this specific chair, today (right now)? Almost everyone that I interact with has sent out a WFH message, and this is not going to change one iota the amount of work we get done as a team today. That's pretty cool, but why am _I_ still sitting in a chair in the office? Maybe the answer to that question, from [My Boss], would be better than a raise?
My supervisor: [Co-worker] isn't in yet?
Me: Don't think so, but then I just got here.
My supervisor: hahaha ok
My supervisor: yep
Me: I was already thinking this on the way to BART. I saw myself, walking a meat bag to a transport system to go put my butt in a chair, miles from where I slept. And all I could think was, "I could already be at "work", so why I am I transporting all this meat to the city?"
My supervisor: lol
My supervisor: you are in the transport business and didn't even know it!
Me: Well, I am, but I know I am an "Idea Trucker". Why do I have to be a meat trucker as well?
My supervisor: yup
My supervisor: you need mudflaps

I really like the idea of mental mudflaps, though I have no idea what they would look like.

So, 41% increase in productivity, after letting go the people who are not the best fit for the team, by empowering and respecting your employees. In exchange the company get improved retention and productivity. Why isn't every company doing this?

Oh, and the "Idea Trucker" concept will be the subject of an upcoming post.

Discuss

Art, art, and more art. We NEED more art!

2008-05-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

Crazy, crazy Netherlands performance art:

Is this where my community has gotten off to?

Including Excludes

2008-04-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

RICH - Propaganda Posters

2008-04-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

WWII Era posters reminded people about their actions. I think there are a lot of people who do not quite understand the true costs of their actions. Stealing the metals (copper, aluminum, brass, etc.) wholesale out of our country for the quick cash from unscrupulous metal dealers, to ship it to other countries? We, and by that I mean ALL Americans, are gutting our infrastructure to the benefit of others for a fraction of its true worth. We need to find a way to educate those people that are doing this to our country. Who can come up with a slogan and/or a moving graphic design to help curb this raping of our country?

Now, how about for litter? Wastefulness? Driving SUV's and the gas it wastes?

Anyone want to run with this?

Compliment or not?

2008-04-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

I was walking down the street, in downtown San Francisco, and a middle-aged African-American man, with a little visible gold in his grill, said to his friends (or to me): "That's a cold moustache!". My question to you, compliment or not?

He's Alive!!!

2008-03-31T19:42:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long, but I think I have the transition to my new host pretty much completed. There should be no more service interruptions, though there might be a bunch of visual changes coming in the near future.

Speaking of changes... For those who know me personally, what would you like to see me talk about, cover or otherwise discuss? What sort of conversations could we time-shift to the comments that our life migrations have made difficult? I remember way too many late nights, arguing the merits of communism (or some other topic) and way to few of them in recent memory. For those of you who do not know me personally (is there even one of you who reads this?), welcome, and what do you find interesting about the things that have been written about here in the past?

A little something to get the ol' brain juices flowing:
What might we find at the intersection of Moore's Law, economy of scale, information portability, and good old enthusiasm that could be used to improve the maximum numbers of lives? For the smallest financial investment? Discuss!

I'm not sure if anyone is actually subscribed to this blog in any way, but if you are, would you let me know, either in the comments or via email, how you watch my ramblings?

There is no love without a mustache!

2007-10-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

This just in... I have found a wonderful blog, full of photos, stories, links and humor, dedicated to:

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

I have not read this before, and am not sure of the source, but from the pen of Guy de Maupassant comes what I will call:

There is no love without a mustache!

I am not sure how my wife would agree with all of this, but when is the last time you read a letter this beautiful, dedicated to facial hair? Enjoy!

Burning Man 2008 Art Theme announced...

2007-09-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

"American Dream"

If this is a prank, somebody hacked the BM website. Let the raving, flaming, angry emails start flowing!

...so... angry... maybe this is another of the 7 signs of the apocalypse? (Like the smoking ban in Irish bars) Or just the last sign that Burning Man has jumped the shark?

I am back, clean, (though most of my stuff isn't) and will be posting photos and more stories soon, but this just had to be posted ASAP.

Just HOW does this theme relate at ALL to what Burning Man is supposed to be about. Like we need MORE RVs out there? Big Red, White, and Blue RVs?

SOMEbody PLEASE post a comment about this to help me understand how any attendees can get behind this? I have nightmares of beer-helmeted, NASCAR fans saying "Well, finally! Now I can get into this Burning Thing!"

Ick!

Words of Wisdom from an unlikely source

2007-08-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

This is a great piece of advice that I got from BRK (WOW Information for Hunters) that I think should be spread far and wide as some of the best help for day-to-day living in this hectic, crowded world:

My friend, there is one bit of advice you need to heed. One small tidbit of information that shall put your mind at ease. One itsy bitsy teenie weenie morsel of truth that shall set you free:

People are stupid.

Unfortunately, too often in our lives we have to deal with People. Friends are cool. Acquaintances are nice. People are dumb. People are ignorant. People are loud-mouthed schnooks. People need to take a long quaff from a great big tall frosty glass of Shut The H3ll Up juice.

You have three choices when dealing with People: let them control you, get away from them, or shut them up.

Heed the advice of the BRK. I know that I do!

Almost Outta Here!

2007-08-22T11:23:00.001-07:00

I hope to be leaving for the desert in a couple of days to go to this little thing where they burn some stuff. Let's try this new embedded map thing from Google and see how it works.

View Larger Map

Hopefully this will give you an idea of where to search for me and my lovely wife!

While I am gone, I am sure that this event will get lots of news coverage, but there is one group out there that will be recording tv/podcasts and putting them online LIVE! Check out TV Free Burning Man and if you see a bunch of HUGE bikes/trikes with fire shooting out the top, look close, because I will probably be in the middle of it!

These last couple of months have been pretty insane, with lots of changes in the lives of the people I care about the most. To all of you, I give one of my new "Favorite Quotes": This too shall pass. I love you all, and will be sending my best wishes for you skyward on plumes of black smoke.

After I return from this trip (in a little over a week), I am sure there will be the usual post-event gushing of stories, but I will also be making it a point to improve the frequency of posts at That Place.

In the meantime, I might (but probably not) find access to email/blog while I am gone, so feel free to write comments or to me directly, and if nothing else, I will respond after I get back. Anyone who reads this blog, use this week to think about what you would like to see here, and I promise it goes to the top of my priority list upon my return to the world of boring normalcy.

Burn Hot, Burn Big.

Poem

2007-07-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

It has been too long, and I promise to try to make writing here more of a priority.

When asked if I haz hunger (see lolcats) my respose was:

Hunger looms like a stooping hawk
Must eat meat
To stave off death

If I had had the guts...

2007-04-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

I would TOTALLY, you know, been like, a Punk!

Find out how totally 80's are you at LiquidGeneration!

Bow to me!

2007-04-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

You are The Emperor

Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person.
The Emperor is the great authority figure of the Tarot, so it represents fathers, father-figures and employers. There is a lot of aggression and violence too.

The Emperor naturally follows the Empress. Like an infant, he is filled with enthuiasm, energy, aggression. He is direct, guileless and all too often irresistible. Unfortunately, like a baby he can also be a tyrant. Impatient, demanding, controlling. In the best of circumstances, he signifies the leader that everyone wants to follow, sitting on a throne that indicates the solid foundation of an Empire he created, loves and rules with intelligence and enthusiasm. But that throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and discontent.

What Tarot Card are You?

Take the Test to Find Out.

Meme - Photo Challenge

2007-03-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, got the new hotness, and I love my Nikon D80, but this challenge is more for your eyes and mind than it is for what kind of camera you have. What I want to see is the one (or more?) beautiful thing that you see every day, and say to yourself, "I should take a picture of that".

Now, if you want to go with the cheese factor, you can take a pic of your husband/wife/SO/child, but it had better be a GOOD pic! I am thinking more about things like the sunset that you see every day, and say WOW! Or the light on a plant that you see when you go out for lunch at work, or the tiny little flower growing in the concrete as you walk to your car. So, put the following text above a pic on your blog, and let the world have a little more beauty in it. Let's call this challenge:

Everyday Beauty Challenge
Take a picture of at least one thing that you see every day, and that makes you say "Wow, I should take a picture of that!" Well, today I challenge you to DO IT! Share your beauty with the world like so:

My Everyday Beauty Challenge Reply:

This is a photo from my window of a typical sunset over the San Francisco skyline, from my home in Oakland.

Ping me back after you have done this so I can enjoy the beauty of the world through my friend's eyes!

I am a Book!

2007-01-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

You're Ender's Game!
by Orson Scott Card

To you, most everything is a game. It's summertime, and the living's easy. Even when there's a war on, it's just a game to you. But even though you've historically been able to meet every challenge, there are some doubts about what lies ahead. Are you sure you're up to the next test? Don't forget to pay attention to your siblings.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Fun Vocabulary Fact

2007-01-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

Most people have heard that a group of Crows is called a Murder. I can understand that. You see enough crows cleaning the corpses on a battlefield, and you might call that a murder as well.

BUT... Do you know what a group of Ravens is called? They are awfully similar birds...

And Unkindness of Ravens.

Go figure.

I _AM_ Iron Man!

2007-01-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Your results:

You are Iron Man

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Iron Man		90%
Spider-Man		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Wonder Woman		65%
Robin		65%
Catwoman		55%
Supergirl		50%
The Flash		50%
Hulk		50%
Superman		40%
Batman		35%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

I Want - Mobile access to data, to interface with and track my personal data footprint

2006-12-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

First, to the one of you who have mentioned that I do not post very often (often enough?), let me say that a)You are correct, yet b)I would hope that only when I have coherent, relevant, and original obervations to add to the interwebs, would I do so, as befits my new-found status as Person Of The Year.

Now, this has been kicking around in my head for a while...

Message in a bottle, tracking objects through meat-space

As we wade through meat-space, we leave a trail in our wake. If we were to put a tracking substance on ourselves (Something like Po210, maybe?) we would see that the breadth of our impact is much larger than we think. In lieu of radioactive tracking, think about using something like Where's George. All you need to do is get a little stamp or a pen and mark the cash that you get, and hope that someone else logs it back into the system. Not quite as efficient as tracking with radioactive material, but a decent start.

As more and more of our devices (cameras, phones, PDAs, laptops, objects with RFID tags, clothes, etc.) become location aware via GPS technologies, we will leave more and more visible trails through meat-space, trackable through meta-space. If every picture we post on Flickr has GPS coordinates with it, you would be able to reconstruct your path through the world. Assuming enough data points, you might even have a relatively decent resolution to the map as well. Beyond the entertainment value of this, might we also become more aware of the interconnected nature of our world in the process? This can only help reinforce the idea of "Think globally, act locally.".

As we traverse meta-space, we leave a lighter trace that may be able to be followed by people with server logs, but we can leave breadcrumbs as well. We call them bookmarks, and they help us not only return to specific ideas and locations, but like their fairy tale namesakes, return us to a path of thought.

Helping me, helps us

Introducing me not only to specific items that you have found, but rather to the meta-information of the way you found it might be more valuable. Even one level up could introduce me to a whole new channel of information that might end up more valuable to me than the specific article/item that caught your eye.

As an example, I regularly submit goofy articles to Porter's Goofyblog (And have even had a few of them published!). However, I usually send him the URL to the article or item that I found (Goofy article about Krispy Kreme Hamburgers), that actually lives online somewhere else. However, for sake of argument, let's say that I found the original reference on a blog/comic that I read daily called My Extra Life. If I were to preface the link I was sending, with the URL of the place that I found the reference, he would now have a whole new channel to watch for further Goofy information.

In this age of user contributed information, the original source of the information can get lost through several layers of "telephone"-like linked referencing. Take the time to find the original source and think of it as taking the time to wrap a present in a nice ribbon before giving it as a gift. Think of the URL to the location where you found the reference as the bow on top.

For a little more along these lines, see I Want - Data Packetization.

Follow my mind

I know that I have issues staying focused on one topic/idea/project for very long. If you have known me for any length of time, you are probably laughing and thinking "That's an understatement!" Reading through my del.icio.us links only reinforces that for me. However, looking trough them also gives a pretty good overview of the type of person I am via what kind of things am I interested in. These are my del.icio.us links, and how to add a list to your own blog. I would like to see more of my friends using this service, and posting their lists. It would be a great way to follow their "breadcumbs", get to know them a little better, and improve my own information sources at the same time.

Poll - Why are you NOT going to vote?

2006-11-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

I have voted already, and what my choices were is not relevant to this question. I would like to find out what the issues are that keep people from voting? People in other countries fight, die and are killed, trying to vote or even just to get the right to vote the first time. I heard a statistic that we are looking at maybe 55% voter turnout for this election. My question to you, and please leave them anonymously if you would like, is why are you not voting in this election?

I just got this idea on the way in to work today, and I would like to do something for the next election. I want to have a table with a microphone, probably outside of a BART station, and ask people to record a quick statement about why they are not going to vote. I would edit the recording into something that I could sent to politicians that actually want some issues to address. The totals will be posted here as well. Why do we not take advantage of what is probably the single biggest privilege/right that we have in this country?