Is it just me, or is another year just zooming by? They say the time moves faster as you get older. I just can’t imagine it moving much faster than this. It feels like yesterday was the beginning of the year, we are now well past the halfway mark.
Despite it being a great year, thus far, I feel that I am so behind on projects. I’ve still not touched my silkscreen press. My office still looks like I just moved in. I’m even falling behind on my recently started 365 project.
What to do?
So many devices, and we’re still not happy… I really find it sad that with all the cool things that technology can do these days that is still so much that it can’t do; and oddly, the limitation is typically created by the technologies themselves.
If smart phones are so wonderful, why can’t they control the device that Americans use must — the television. TV remotes are fairly low tech… and it seems like a logical device pairing.
It drives me insane that I can share music or videos from my computer to my Xbox; but I can’t share videos between my two Xboxes. Why wouldn’t this be allowed?
I’m also waiting for Xbox to release an iPhone app that allows your phone to be your profile and memory device. Or an app that allows your phone to become a controller. I’ve not tried in awhile, but I couldn’t even use my iPhone to play music through the Xbox. Currently, the Xbox is only an iPhone charging station.
I’ve got digital clocks around my house that contain thermometers; it would be wonderful it this information was available via the web. Not only could I check the temperature from the office, but I could chart the data and look for patterns.
HDMI cables have been glory for AV, since they carry audio, video and data between devices with a single cable. Yet my laptop has some other worthless video ports that don’t leverage the glory of HDMI.
Why do cars, now fully computer powered, not share any of their information? Seems to my that if Twitter streams are of any interest… a data stream about car data would be awesome.
Netflix has gotten pretty awesome now that it is available on so many platforms. As you switch between device and locations, you can pick up right where you left off; it remembers what you were watching and where you stopped. And yet I have all kinds of iPod-type devices that can’t do this with music? Strange.
Technology is getting better, but it needs to get out of it’s own way.
Downloaded, played and beat Limbo today… based on a strong recommendation from Mr. Benz. Limbo will be listed as one of the top games of 2010… without a doubt. It is visually stunning and completely captivating.
It is amazing that a game with no plot, no story, a faceless and nameless lead can be so moving. Limbo barely has a score… as I recall, it is not until the last few areas that music even kicks in. The sound effects are some of the best I’ve heard in a very long time.
The game play, animation and problem solving are perfectly paired with the visual style. Every detail, including the typography and menus, is well done. In my book, it is the best stylistically and most visually strong game of the past few years.
Some of the puzzles are seemingly impossible
Like Castle Crashers, my only complaint is how long do we have to wait until the next release from this studio?
I have a barely healthy love for typography and fonts. If I was to get slobbering drunk and do wild things I would never remember, I suspect my credit cards would be maxed out with purchases from Veer and various other font dealers. Thankfully, I have enough self-control to limit my annual font binges.
I am slowly moving from font consuming whore to font creator. The transition is slow, but steady. I created my first font last weekend. It was fast and dirty… and it was a complete and real font. Along with my other hobbies and habits, I plan to keep plinking away at this until I stop sucking at it.
I honestly had no idea that a basic font had so many bloody characters in it; and that creating fonts is as addictive as crack. It’s a perfect marriage though… it’s good when something hard is fun; makes it possible to finish and improve.
If you like punishment, give typography a go. Only those that truly enjoy a challenge are foolish enough to try.
I don’t know how or why, but I have developed a fairly large fear of the dentist over the past decade. It is a shame that I have not legit reason or experience that started this fear.
It’s bad, and it’s embarrassing. I cannot come up with a single logical reason to freak out the way I do. I turn pale, high blood pressure, elevated heart rate, get nausea and lose feeling in my limbs. Hardcore fear, right?
Thankfully I have a very cool dentist that is understanding an patent with me. It is quite often that I have to return multiple times for a single procedure. I believe that today was trip four of four to complete a fairly simple procedure.
I am grateful to be done with this one, but I know that I have at least four more procedures to go… and I have to find a way to beat this panic.
There is a first time for everything… even those things you can’t imagine yourself doing. Well… today, I helped made sausage. Making sausage has never been on my to-do list; however, I am a massive fan of meat and could not turn down the experience to make homemade sausage. I can’t lie, it might have been some of the best sausage that I’ve ever had — in most cases, homemade just slaughters store bought.
More than anything, this experience has me looking to buy a Kitchen Aid mixer. It makes pasta, grinds meat, and helps with those wonderful baked goods. I really wonder why I don’t have one already.
For a detailed story, check out Steve’s blog.
I will be creating 365 iPhone wallpapers for my next project. I’m going to be a lot more loose with this project than ones in the past; the goal is 365 posts versus a daily wallpaper. I am doing this for a few reason: a) I would like to put more than a days work into some designs; and b) who needs the stress?
You can check out my collection on Flickr.
Been watching a bit more Gary Vaynerchuk than usual as we prepared several designs for his soon to be released book; and while watching today, something new jumped out at me. There is a big difference in the subtle difference between the choice of words that I have been picking up on. I’ve been stuck on thinking about what I like doing and what I don’t like doing while trying to work out my issues with being unhappy. Gary is not the first person on the planet to talk about doing what you like or love for a living… but while watching his Rails Keynote, it jumped out at me that he talked about doing what you care about… and for me, this is completely different that liking or even loving something.
I love good food, but I don’t care about good food… you can tell by my meals that come between the good food. I like cigars and wine, but don’t even notice when I am without; my humidor and wine fridge often run sparse. It’s rare that the things I like keep me up late at night… or get me out of bed early. Not as harsh as it sounds, I don’t care about these things. When hunting for a direction, looking where I like is broad — too broad; I am a man of many interests as all my friends know.
The other bummer thing about chasing after things you like is that it’s easy to add things to the list. Even for a hater like me, I find new things that I like all the time. I even find things that I love quite frequently — most recently, my new grill and patio set; I love grilling, sitting outside with a cigar, and banging out blog posts like this. So quite clearly, looking into my like list could take me a lifetime.
So what is it that I really, really love — what is is that I care about? What are the things that will keep me up at night? What are those things that make me drop a day’s work to do? Excluding my family, there is still quite a list of things; and this list is where I will now be focusing my thoughts on… and hopefully, soon I will be focusing my actions.
I suspect that one of my issues will be filtering out all of the things I think I should care about. I should care about things like clean water for kids in third-world countries and other humanitarian type things… but I don’t — yes, cold as that sounds; I’m grateful other people care… but that’s not my thing. I am fairly certain that I will not be starting the next TOMS.
You know me; you’ve hung out with me… we’ve had some chats on those walks I like to take. What are the things that you know I care about? You might well know the answers that are right under my nose. I’m lost… and I’m looking. Help me out.
I’ve been oddly tired this week; and I suspect that it is due to my recent dental work. I have a temporary onlay on a molar, and it doesn’t take much to send me into bout of pain. I’ve had a mild toothache for a week, and I have two more weeks to go until I get my permanent installed.
I hate going to the dentist, but waiting until major work is needed is not the way to go. I was able to claim being poor as my reason not to go for so long… but the cost and the pain is more the longer you wait… so I’m changing my behavior and will be visiting the dentist as often as needed to avoid this again.
Learn from my mistake.
As part of my looking around and switching gears movement, I am reading the following:
Things I know and that I am discovering:
I’m still adding to this list… but it has been suggested to me many times that I should move into consulting. I have always avoided it for a few reasons. Consulting is a lot like sales; you always feel like you are getting robbed. Most consultants know very little and care even less (about the problem or the people). I have never understood a billing model based off of knowledge versus time/work. To this day, I have a hard time getting my brain around charging a person to speak with them.
Looking for feedback and any great reading.
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