Our collective geek rears its head again:

Me (tongue-in-cheek) to Shane: “Left side of my head is foggy. Hope I don’t have anything analytic going on today.”

Shane: “Maybe just computing how many boxes we can fit in the trailer if the median box size is .592 cubic feet.”

(pause)

Shane: “…with a standard deviation of 4%.”

Posted by tee in quotes
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For the last year or so I’ve sought out and eaten up TED talks every chance I get. Speakers are top-notch creative thinkers and real-world logicians, and the talks are almost always fantastically entertaining and full of revolutionary ideas and critical messages to internalize (and to spread, as is the point). Rarely will I turn down an opportunity to watch another, and another (and another…).

Despite that, I cannot shake off my irritation that the majority of them also become so meandering that they veer from what might otherwise be a finely-pointed exit, one that brings the whole magnificent body around to its natural, teleological argument. But time and again the topic, which felt pregnant with potential for the first nine tenths of the event, is left flat and dangling in the final minutes, unsatisfying, like a well-played ball suddenly dropped and left to roll off the stage.

Why is that? Not enough time? Do the speakers get so caught up in the enormity of ideas (would be easy to believe, the ideas really are stunning) that it’s impossible to gather it all into a solid, secure knot on the end of the balloon? Am I over-thinking it? Missing the point? I’d be curious to know if anyone else who’s seen several of them have noticed the same pattern.

That being said, I haven’t seen a TED talk yet that wasn’t worth watching. This is one of my favorites:

Posted by tee in sidetracks
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I haven’t turned lights on yet but I open the window, and the gray outside is cool and flat. Last night’s rain is still hanging on leaves and in the road and in the air. It refuses to go. I tear number 28 off the desk calendar, we have nine days left now, and the word for 29 is, appropriately, interloper.

I scoop dog and cat food into dishes and fill water bowls at the sink, watching Shane and Sarah out the window trying to walk to grandma’s because Sarah likes to go with her to church, but they are preoccupied with the black cat across the street who tries to follow them. They pick him up, afraid he’ll be hit by a car in the road, and walk him back home and deposit him in his own yard and try again. And again. But he runs to catch up and trots happily at their heels. On the fifth try he stays, and they quickly disappear around the misty corner and out of view. In two hours it’ll be my turn to make the trip in reverse.

I start water for coffee, and turn on the light to warm up the gray. The child in me wants to say I bet it lasts for the whole eight days.

Posted by tee in de la vida
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After much prodding by numerous friends and fans, Eric’s award-winning soundtrack for Everyone But You is now available for purchase online - .99 a track or $10.99 for the whole album (12 tracks). Listen and/or purchase here.

The whole album is fantastic and original. But if you’ve only got a couple of bucks to spare and want recommendations, I’d say tracks 3, 4 and 9 are my favorites. Of course I say that, and then think of another, and then another… so play it safe and just pick up all 12 tracks.

As I’ve said before, Eric’s music feels like being on a long, lonely stretch of road with the windows down. Only without the high gas prices.

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A new addition at the top, Old Coyote by the Weepies, given to me last night by the very witty, wise, whacky and wonderful Toni. May take a minute to load.

postscript: looks like a few of the tracks convert to 30-second samples when it’s embedded…that’s annoying.

Posted by tee in fun stuff
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I’ve met a whole lot of interesting, creative folks in my brief time on Twitter - and one of the most energetic of those is Chris Guillebeau of the Art of Nonconformity. Reading nearly 200 books for my books-around-the-world project sounded ambitious until I learned that Chris is planning to take it a whole lot of steps further to actually visit every country (he’s got 83 under his belt so far).

Chris recently published a 29-page “manifesto” titled A Brief Guide to World Domination, which he’s offering up for free download from his site. With stuff like:

“The only things you’ll need to give up are assumptions, expectations, and the comfort zone that holds you back from greatness.”

and…

“The real secret in life is that even though you can probably have anything you want if you work hard enough, in the end it’s not all about you.”

… he’s preaching to the choir as far as I’m concerned, but I bet a lot of readers here would enjoy it. Reminds me a little of the types of things I used to post here once upon a time.

Check it out.

Posted by tee in fun stuff
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The music being so much better in the video than in the commercial aside, the MacBook Air will be my next upgrade after we get settled back in New Mexico this fall.

Posted by tee in fun stuff
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