Wednesday, January 22, 2014

I'm going *really* offline

In one hour, I'm heading to the airport... without my computer... for a 2.5 week trip.

This means that my blog is taking a nap.  But, as my friend Rebecca predicted, I've got an offline journal, with a ton of awesome pens, for musing on my train trip from Helsinki to Beijing.

It's gonna be wild, or at least, really really cold (I mean, who plans a trip to Siberia in January, besides Olympians & me?)

Adios.
Davide Green

Davide Green




























Tuesday, January 21, 2014

My formula for dissecting happiness

Lucas Zimmerman



























I like the idea of optimizing my life.

A few years after college, I came to the conclusion I was going to die young.  It's one of those ridiculous stories that I made up in my head that run contrary to all objective evidence.  I'm healthy, and life expectancy is on the rise.  It's silly.

But, because of this fear, I try to maximize my experiences and typically make changes quicker (and more frivolously) than my peers.  It's my personal version of Vanitas art

It's why I'm an aggressive traveller
It's why I switch jobs so quickly (rather than "sticking it out")
It's why I've moved or "been on assignment" so many times
It's why I barely thought about moving all the way to Singapore

I err on the side of change.  I think it's always a good thing.

Lately, I've been philosophizing on how to get the most out of life (sound cliche?) with my boyfriend, Alan.  

We've been using this idea of a 10 point scale.

There's 168 hours per week, which I think breaks down as follows:
  • Work - 50 hours
  • Pleasure - 50 hours
  • Sleep / Shower / Other Mundane Activities - 68 hours
Therefore, our general happiness is based on an equal part work and an equal part pleasure.  For example, if your work life is a 5 and your home life is a 9, you're averaging a 7 out of 10 happiness.  Personally, I don't think it's a possible to achieve a 10 out of 10 on both scales, as a perfect work life requires a lot of personal sacrifices and vice-versa.

It's all a balancing act.  Here's two examples where I failed and eventually re-corrected.

Example 1: When I was on consulting & private equity, work and my crackberry (remember that term pre-RIM's fall?) consumed my life.  In some ways, it was good -- I worked in a "desired" job field at firms that were a respectable notch below the McKinseys & Blackstones of the world.  I worked with kids from fancy university with fancy connections, which put me on a good career track.  

Unfortunately, my work happiness quickly dissipated, and my *very* small amount of pleasure time never really made up for it.  Eventually, I became miserable, nodding in sad agreement with Dilbert cartoons.  After 4 years, I moved to Google, and my score went up.

Example 2: Last year, I had a difficult manager situation (no need to bore you with the details), which turned my Google utopia from an 8 to a 3.  No matter how much I invested in cool things outside of work (re: lots and lots of travel), I couldn't fully recuperate.  At best, I was at a 6.5, besides the 3 months I was on a rotation, which bumped up life to an 8 (it would have been higher if not scrambling for a new job in the midst).

In typical New Year's fashion (20 days late), I'm thinking through how to really optimize 2014.

Here's the plan for 2014:

Work: I've switched jobs (again) to a role where I think (fingers-crossed) I can maintain a steady 7ish on my self-imposed scale.  I'm not radically "changing the world", but I think I can obtain the three drivers of job satisfaction: autonomy, mastery & purpose while getting out of work in under 50 hours a week at a good salary.

Play: Now, for more interesting stuff -- my pursuit of pleasure and purpose outside of work.  I'm not going to name any direct resolutions (Derek Sivers says not to), but I'd like to think of my 50 hours of freedom in a couple buckets.

In 2014, I'd like to spend my "play" time each week, equally across 4 buckets:
  • Creating: From painting to photography to sous-chefing to app-making (via a developer) to blogging -- I want to continue "making" things for the sake of creating
  • Socializing: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"  Girl's gotta talk (and drink)
  • Exploring: "Go West, young (wo)man" - Horace Greely.  I've set a target for the number of new countries I want to hit this year, but  again, I won't say because of Derek.  Plus, I'm determined to find Singapore's underbelly.
  • Learning / Reading: I'm thinking more books & Coursera.  Less Twitter.
Note: I need to put exercise somewhere in there.  Plus, meditation & maybe volunteering. 
Lucas Zimmerman

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Lessons from the Dead Poet's Society


Apple has a history of prodigious advertisements that elevate their product from a device to a philosophy.  

There's the 1984 Superbowl Commercial, the Think Different campaign and now this...



The video didn't make me want an i-pad.  It made me revisit clips from the Dead Poet's Society.

Here's some of my favorite parts (sorry for the low quality footage from youtube)

On conformity ...

On changing your perspective...

On seizing the day...

Saturday, January 18, 2014

A portrait of consumerism

Source: Photopin






























"At it's core, this big data revolution is about how humans create and preserve a historical record of their activities.  Its consequences will transform how we look at ourselves.  It will enable the creation of new scopes that make it possible for our society to more effectively probe its own nature.  Big data is going to change the humanities, transform the social sciences, and renegotiate the relationship between the world of commerce and the ivory tower"
- from Uncharted by Aiden & Michaels 
If you collect enough dots, it will eventually turn into a picture.  a story.

Today, I heard an interview with Kate Bingaman-Burt on Design Matters describing a daunting side project -- she documented everything she bought for 28 months.

It's all recorded here.  It tells both Kate's story and our own story -- a tale about the objects that define us and the emotional relationship we have with money. 
Our daily lives are filled with consumption—$1.50 for a cup of coffee, $5.95 for a magazine, $17.99 for headphones, $1.79 for cough drops, $36.00 for a haircut. Whether bought out of necessity or indulgence, purchased alone or in a group, everything we buy has its own story to tell. We buy art supplies while feeling inspired, CDs while shopping with friends, and a new pair of jeans to give us a lift when we are feeling blue. Yet, these powerfully emotional experiences can be fleeting—quickly erased by the pull of the next "must-have" acquisition.
- Obsessive Consumption, book description




























The project morphed into her drawing all her credit card receipts until she paid off $23,000 of debt.





























Twelve years later, the project is still running.  She now draws one picture a day of her purchases.

What do you think your purchases say about you?

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Taipei is (really) cool.





I like Singapore for lots of reasons:

  • Warm weather.  I might be the only person that counts this as a plus
  • Awesome public transport.  My commute went from 3 hours to 30 min per day
  • A mix of people.  We've got every religion and nationality represented
  • Food, food, food.  All price ranges.  All genres.  Really excellent
  • Proximity to travel.  My passport has never been so excited
  • The "resort" life.  It feels like I live in a country club
  • Safety.  This might sound lame, but after being robbed in San Francisco, it's higher on my priority list. 

Unfortunately, Singapore can sometime lack "coolness."  They try (and copy) really hard, but it's not the same as cities that develop organically.

All that being said -- Taipei was cool.  Lots of energy, a cool cafe culture and locals claiming their food is the best in the world.  Plus, they have this everyday.

Okay, now for some photos.

















Monday, January 13, 2014

The coolest annual report I've ever seen

Source: Eye Magazine




























I've started listening to Design Matters podcasts at painting class every week.  It's one of my better habits (the worst being successive cookie eating every afternoon, which leads to a sugar-induced coma at my desk).

This Sunday, I was introduced to Marion Deuchars (podcast here).  Besides having a lovely accent, I really liked two parts:

1. She made an annual report that looked like this.  Awesome.







 2. She wrote a series of books called "Let's Make Some Great Art".  

She has a theory that kids love art until around the age 10.  At that point, if their drawings look realistic, they continue on with art.  If not, they move on to soccer or dance or whatever the new replacement for pogs is.  They start believing that they are not creative, which schools and the world continue to reinforce (for more on that, check out this TED talk by Ken Robinson)

As a child, I was naturally drawn to art.  I entered all of the elementary school poster contests, which were always on fire safety (I wonder if that still exists) and even sold drawings of cats to unexpecting guests in hotels lobbies (much to my parents' dismay).

Then, Kevin Pender was named the best drawer in my 4th grade class.  He dethroned me.  

At that point, I considered myself an average drawer.  Not much has changed.  I took one mandatory art class in high school and decided that basketball and student council were "my things."

Maybe things would be different if Marion's books were around then.... 


PS - One of her sons briefly joined the podcast and boasted about turning the Mona Lisa exercise into the "Man-a" Lisa.  It was adorable.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Man Behind Kottke.org

From photopin.com





























Kottke.org is a staple in the blogosphere, especially in the nerd(ish) category.

I read it sometimes.  
My boyfriend reads it all the time.  
It's an impressive, go-to place for interestingness.

Well, today I listened to the Design Matters podcast with Jason Kottke (see previous blog here) and learned a bit more about the man behind the words.  He seems like a really cool and down-to-earth guy.

Here's a few things I didn't know:

  1. He's been blogging since 1998 (he's like a grandfather in internet years... it's like the same as dog years, basically).  He's written 21,000 posts to-date -- that's an average of 4 posts per day over 15 years.  Talk about dedication
  2. He's married to Meg Hourihan who co-founded Blogger with Ev Williams, Twitter co-founder.  They met on a panel talking about blogging at South x Southwest (Note: I had no idea one of the co-founders of blogger was a chick.  awesome).
  3. He founded Stellar, which helps curate awesomeness for you
But, this is what I found the most interesting -- here's his very first blog post

Why?  MAR 14I decided I needed to start writing things down. Because I forget. Because I think better and feel better when I write. I used to write often but got away from it. So here it is again. But you ask: "Jason, why not keep a private diary?" Because I'd never keep up a private diary...I need to force myself to write this. So, I made it into content. Since it's content, I feel obligated to keep it up-to-date.See these games I have to play with myself?
It's amazing how a little side project to keep himself accountable turned into the Kottke.org we know today.

What do you think your side projects could turn into?  It's always fun to daydream... 

[Mental Health Break] Adorable Town


Cutest thing on the internet?  Probably.

Monday, January 6, 2014

An album a day keeps the doctor away

Nina Simone


























As mentioned last week, I'm a fan of 30 day challenges.  They make you adjust your daily routine without all the pressure that comes from making long-term habit changes.

In December, my boyfriend and I tried being vegan, albeit only 21 days.  This month, we are trying something more fun -- a new album per day.

There's so much good music out there, but I tend to play the same songs over and over again.  Right now, my Spotify is all about the Hipster International playlist, the Girls (HBO show) playlist & Bob Dylan.  

Note: In 2010, I may have listened to "changes" by david bowie on repeat about 1000 times.  Weird, yes.  Can I sing all the lyrics, yes. 

Anyways, it's time for a change.

Here's what I'm listening to this month (all picked by Alan after dutiful research):

  1. The Best of Nina Simone -- Nina Simone
  2. Was Dead -- King Tuff
  3. Donuts -- J Dilla
  4. There's a Riot Goin' On -- Sly & The Family Stone
  5. King of the Delta Blues Singers -- Robert Johnson
  6. Tago Mago -- Can
  7. Mr. Hood -- K.M.D.
  8. Post -- Bjork
  9. On the Corner -- Miles Davis
  10. Goat -- The Jesus Lizard
  11. Who is William Onyeabor -- William Onyeabor
  12. In On the Kill Taker -- Fugazi
  13. Homework -- Daft Punk
  14. When the Pawn... --- Fiona Apple
  15. Mclusky Do Dallas -- Mclusky
  16. Supreme Clientele -- Ghostface Killah
  17. A New Beginning -- The Crickets
  18. Bird and Diz -- Dizzy Gillespie
  19. Scary Monsters -- David Bowie
  20. The Trinity Sessions -- Cowboy Junkies
  21. Swordfishtrombones -- Tom Waits
  22. Double Cup -- Dj Rashad
  23. Gremlins Have Pictures -- Roky Erickson
  24. Scott 4 -- Scott Walker
  25. The Incomplete Triangle -- Lansing-Dreiden
  26. The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World -- Peter Jefferies
  27. Isn't Anything -- My Bloody Valentine
  28. Broken English -- Marianne Faithfull
  29. Bivouac -- Jawbreaker
  30. TBD
So far, my favorite is Nina Simone -- such a soulful voice.  

PS -- If you have Spotify, you can follow along at the playlist "An Album a Day Keeps the Doctor Away" by Alan Gertner!

PPS - Aren't band names so cool?
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