So I started a new group blog with a few great Denver/Boulder folks. I’ve always wanted to find a topic for a site that would appeal to a wide variety of folks, written by a wide variety of folks. Say hello to WrittenRules.com.
WrittenRules was started so that we would have a place to help the people of the world. Collectively, the World’s population has 1.733 QUADRILLION HOURS of collective life experience. Even with all this life experience, we all know that we can do better at the things we do. One way we can get better at the things we do is by learning from our peers. It’s our goal here at writtenrules.com to help clear up things that have been plaguing mankind, one blog entry at a time.
We are all about learning from you too, so submit your list of rules to us through writtenrules.com’s submit page. We’ll read all your submissions and will post the best ones. So submit away, because we want to hear from you. Help us wisen people up about the stuff they need wisening up about.
Sports. One of the major problems with most of them is that fallible humans called referees, linesmen, umpires and the rest of the officiating crews can greatly influence the outcome of the sporting event.
My real question is this: why the fuck haven’t we invented robot sports officials? I think it’s finally time to get the smartest minds in the world together to build a more fool-proof version of these officials. Too many calls are blown too in too many important games, and I’m officially tired of it. So get off your keesters, electronics and sports nerds! We need these robot officials, and we need them now.
I’m sure people will think that this will be the beginning of Cylons and shit, but I don’t believe that this will happen, provided we treat these robots with respect. At any rate, it can’t hurt.
I personally think that Armando Galarraga’s recent “almost perfect game” is the most unique perfect game ever. As far as I can tell, no pitcher has ever gotten 28 outs in a 9 inning perfect game. I don’t really care what the record books say. They’re full of douchebags on steroids anyway.
There’s an interesting article by Jerry Lewis at HuffingtonPost.com about the future of Boulder in 25 years. I like what it has to say, but specifically I liked the above quote from Seth Levine. Mainly because I think I fit into that category. Happy to know the things I think are cool will be helping me going into the future. Admittedly, Levine is a venture capitalist and he and his group are investing in the types of companies he’s talking about. But I think it’s nice that there are people out there who think similarly to me. Plus these people happen to have some cash to fund some unique Colorado startups.
You know how it feels to start a new job? I’ve always found that you can quickly grab hold of the necessary basic skills, but it definitely takes a few months to fully “get it”. It dawned on me today that just as in times of employment, it takes a little while to settle into times of unemployment.
I’ve been in “forced temporary early retirement” for the last three months, and I have to say that I’m finally getting the hang of it. I’ve never been laid off before now, and it’s a pretty strange thing to get used to. There’s a pace you have to get used to. You also have to learn how to find lots of free or cheap stuff to do, you know, between setting up a new company and looking for new jobs and all.
At first, I was doing lots of extremes. Either laying super low (i.e., not getting out of bed) or living like a rockstar (going to SXSWi and getting drunk for like two weeks straight). When you don’t exactly have lots of plans, the sky’s the limit. Well, maybe not that. But something like that. Eventually your life finds a balance. Hopefully I’m finding my balance. It definitely feels like it.
One thing I’ve been trying to do is to be as creative as I possibly can be. This means learning more about design (specifically making things all pretty-like for the web and scheming Ignite presentations), writing a lot (at my three blogs), even doing conventional art for the first time in a long time. My life is centered around being creative, and to better center myself, I must be more creative.
I find solace in creativity. What do you find solace in?
OK, so the video is kind of like “vomitcam” in the middle, but Conan O’Brien performed his touring show in NYC last night. I saw him in Denver, and it was really amazing. Our only special guests were The Fray, though. In New York, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart had a dance-off with Coco. And it’s hilarious. I know that The Fray is hot shit, but Denver got the shaft. I curse you New York City, what with your high volume of talent!
If you don’t barf from the middle bit of camera work, this is funny. It’s definitely worth checking out. (via Team Coco Facebook page)
I was looking at photos on flickr for no good reason tonight and came across an incredible photoset called Pencil vs. Camera. An artist living in Belgium named Ben Heine (@benheine on twitter) came up with this great mixed-media artwork that’s part drawing, part photo, part collage. It’s a unique, creative and inspiring style.
As a designer/marketer/word-of-mouther, I find that building a strong brand can be hard work. But all this hard work on a brand means nothing when the company behind the brand actually stinks. If the company you’re branding it for can’t back it up, people are going to find out, and sometimes in insanely dramatic fashion.
Take everyone’s favorite punching bag these days, British Petroleum.
When their green “helios” branding came out, I thought that BP maybe started trending towards greening their business. Obviously, this is all a crock of shit, especially seeing how the BP oil disaster has become the worst oil spill in US history (suck it, Exxon!).
There is a finite amount of oil in the world, and as the concept of peak oil explains, once we’ve found all the easy-to-find oil, the remaining oil will become harder and costlier to find and extract. Predicting when we’re going to peak is tough, but it sounds to me that it has already happened or is close to happening. I predict that as oil becomes harder to get to, we’re at an increased risk of further destroying our world, all in the name of Texas Tea (oil, that is).
If BP wants to sincerely apologize to us, they should immediately start transitioning to developing renewable energy sources. Their branding is a huge lie, because the company can’t back up the “green” strength of their brand identity. Fast Company has a great article with some amazing visuals about what BP’s logo should actually look like, given that they’re still an oil company destroying the world, all in the name for a bigger annual profit.
My brother sent me an email about how some funny jokes can teach you about being a better manager, and I thought it was both funny and informative. One of the aspects I don’t like about corporate atmospheres is the whole “office politics” game, and this quick read is a good overview of how office politics works. Someone made this into a slideshare presentation:
I’ve often found office politics to be a waste of time. Unfortunately for me, however, office politics exist in most offices. You always have to worry about stepping on people’s toes (even when you have valid rationale), overstepping your boundaries (and risking upstaging the person whose job you’re bounding upon). Often people who work under such conditions end up becoming yes men, which is also something I’ve never been comfortable doing. One one hand, it’s detestable what these yes men do. On the other hand, they’re probably just doing it to keep their job. Which is a perfectly fine rationale, just not one I think I would generally like to live beneath.
I will tell you that yes men are pretty bad employees in my book. I think that when you kiss your manager/owner/higher-up’s ass, you are doing a disservice to your company by not offering up your thoughts based on your expertise (which is often what employers see when they hire you). When I’m running my company and I find someone who kisses my ass, I’m going to give them one chance to stop this irrational behavior. If it doesn’t stop, I think it will be best for that person to find another employment opportunity. I will probably even refer them to this very blog entry.
My nephew is learning the piano and here’s some footage from his 2nd ever piano recital this past weekend.
(if the video is choppy, try watching it in 720p instead of 1080p – not sure why that’s happening)
One of the great things about being an uncle is that I get to watch my nephews grow up. Seeing them go through similar experiences is a way for me to relive my childhood, too. Especially when I took lessons from Peggy, the same woman who is teaching Aidan how to play the piano. We both started when we were about 7. My dad has also taken lessons from her, but not when he was a kid.
My roommate and I had a few people over for a LOST series finale get-together last night. I told people to bring one of their “desert island” or “death row” meals – something they couldn’t live without. And bonus points if they tied it into LOST. People played along. I channeled my beer label design skills into some Dharma Initiative beer (which was really a lot of Oskar Blues and Ska canned craft beer).
eClaires – pretty obviously eclairs (which we didn’t eat)
Michael’s Traitor Tots – Tater Tots (flavored with the mouthwatering flavor of redeeming oneself after committing a few horrific murders)
CupKates – like 3 dozen cupcakes (they were oh so delicious!)
My house doesn’t hold that many people, but we crammed out small group in and watched the finale. I thought it started out really strong, but by the end we were reduced to something akin to the Battlestar Galactica finale*. Don’t get me wrong, I loved BSG, but the last 30 minutes of the series finale was beyond terrible. When you look at series finale episodes, they’re often pretty bad. Seinfeld, BSG, and the Sopranos are among my most notable shows that ended in a less-than-stellar fashion.
Given the evidence, tying up these shows is a really tough thing to do.
My question is this: wouldn’t you want to figure out the ending pretty much first? And all the while work towards this ending to achieve your vision? That’s how I’d probably do it.
