I got my ass kicked.

http://www.strava.com/activities/107633439

Up a mile, down a mile, up a mile, down a mile, up, finish.
No excuses other than that was the first time I’ve run in snowshoes in … 6 years?

I forgot how brutal trying to go really fast in snowshoes can be… a little altitude thrown in too – though I’m not sure that was a factor – 4200ft to 4800ft. Up, down, up down, up down. Super fun letting loose on the downhill though – it’s more stable on the snow than on singletrack trail. Just kind of let the snowshoes slide – ease back a bit.

Beautiful day, temp maybe mid-40’s.
Ran in thin tech top, running cap and thin gloves – and was cooking in the sun.

Super super bonus: I didn’t get hurt… which I was most worried about.

(A taxonomy)

Make art and live like a pauper – maybe your art will make your progeny rich after you die.

Make other people really (really) happy… and have them pay you for that.

Make other people richer than you yourself require (I think most of us do this).

I finished Bleeding Edge today.
Recommended. I’ll go back and read some more Pynchon later. Or not.

Here are some choice passages:

“Yep, and your Internet was their invention, this magical convenience that creeps now like a smell through the smallest details of our lives, the shopping, the housework, the homework, the taxes, absorbing our energy, eating up our precious time. And there’s no innocence. Anywhere. Never was. It was conceived in sin, the worst possible. As it kept growing, it never stopped carrying in its heart a bitter-cold death wish for the planet, and don’t think anything has changed, kid.”

And another:

“Beaming at her with that vacant, perhaps only Californian, the-Universe-is-a-joke-but-you-don’t-get-it smile which so often drives her to un-Buddhist daydreams seething with rage.”

Another:

“Refugees from the sunless half of the cycle. Whatever it was they thought they needed, coffee, a cheeseburger, a kind word, the light of dawn, they’ve kept watch, stayed awake and caught sight of it at least, or nodded off and missed it again.”

American poetry. Damn. Recommended.

Not sure what’s next, on deck are:

• Multipliers (Liz Wiseman)
• The Art of Action (Steven Bungay)
• Design Research Through Practice (Ilpo Koskinen, John Zimmerman)
• Ambient Commons (Malcolm McCullough)
• Smart Cities (Anthony Townsend)
• People Analytics (Ben Waber)

I think it might be Multipliers first… and then I’ll skip to something fun… like Ambient Commons.

Last 2 read before Bleeding Edge:
Design is a Job (Mike Monteiro)
Daily Rituals (Mason Currey) [holy shit people used to take a lot of Benzedrine…]

WES from Alejandro Prullansky on Vimeo.

I do my best thinking when I’m running and never remember what I was thinking about when I get back or ever write it down. Today I mostly remembered, here is the list:

1. Clarity of purpose – knowing what you want and why.
2. Making the time – saying no and disappearing (b/c I did this today).
3. All history is shared – you may think you’re not connected, but you are.
4. The privilege of contributing to that history (it’s a privilege).
5. Living and dying in every heartbeat – really a metaphor for running and life.

1. It’s filling
2. A can or cup are negligible calories
3. It’s an entire meal
4. …with a piece of bread
5. It’s packable (in a tetra pak or can)
6. Soup can bring peace to the world

Seriously – if you’re trying to curb a raging appetite – eat some soup. If you’re still hungry – eat a banana (unless you have issues with the carbon footprint of shipping bananas from south america… if so… eat more soup).

Here’s a starter recipe (one of my faves):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Potato-Soup-with-Kale-and-Chorizo-241646

More heat? This is your answer:
http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm

Dang.

My proposal for IASummit14 didn’t get accepted. I submitted my presentation from EuroIA, but the talk on “Uncle Ralph, Threadjacking and LolHolla” would have been really really fun to give.  The gist is mostly around the behaviors that emerge in big social networks as users try to navigate social interactions with no …. like … physical cues or feedback. What happens ultimately is that another culture emerges – with its own rules and language and customs. Fascinating stuff.  It exists at Jive and it’s super evolved primarily b/c we’ve been around so long and every weird or awkward social interaction that can happen in a community… has already happened.

I think it’s best that it wasn’t accepted. I was on the fence of whether or not to bail if it was accepted. I had a great time in Edinburgh at EuroIA, but truth be told – me and conferences don’t mesh.

I used to get a power up going to IASummits or IxDA conferences … <shrug>. As I’ve gotten further along in my career, I guess the idealism of the “right” way to do things gives me the yawns.