Patrick Rhone's Blog, page 31
January 2, 2013
The Mess
Kitchens are chaos.
Go to any restaurant in the world, from the lowest to the finest, and this is one thing I’m certain you will find in common. No matter how good the rest of the place looks, or the presentation that is on your plate, the kitchen is a mess. That beautiful food started out as an ugly mess. The people that prepared it had to work in a near impossible concert of organized disorder in order to ensure that each item arrived to your table at the right time and temperature and looked like something you might want to eat and not some half-prepared conglomerate of various ingredients and uncooked components. You are paying for the privilege of not only eating a well prepared meal but also to not have to get your hands dirty or see such a mess.
This is true of most homes you are invited into as well. Unless the inhabitants are neat freaks in all likelihood they spent a few minutes to a few hours busily “picking up” before your arrival. If they have kids there were likely toys all about the place and a sock or two (but never from the same pair). There were likely dishes on the counter in the kitchen and a pile of unread mail on some surface near the entryway. The point is, if you are a guest, a true guest, you likely never get to see the mess.
The truth is, most of those great things we read — in books, magazines, or blog posts — started out as chaos as well. Half baked ideas, notes scribbled on some scrap of paper, a freely associated stream of consciousness full of typos and mistakes. These things were all cleaned up before they were published. Thoughts were completed. Typos were corrected. Associations became direct connections.
The mess is something we generally reserve for only our closest friends and trusted sources. The mess is the imperfections we know others know but would only reveal to those willing to forgive us for it.
Yet the mess is the very essence of creation. The planets and stars and life itself is born of chaos and disorder and confusion.
And part of my being able to publish here daily will mean that, some days, it will be a bit messy and you will just have to forgive me for that.
January 1, 2013
Shining A Light
This post will be appearing on every website I have. If you subscribe to one or more please forgive the redundancy.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about patronage lately. Specifically, I’ve been kicking around ways to further increase my support of those who produce the things I love and derive value from online. It is a belief I put strongly into practice this past year. I did this various ways: Through membership programs, through buying their books and other works, through donation, and through purchase of their products.
I plan to increase that in the coming year. I also am in the process of creating a fund that will directly patronize up-and-coming and lesser known writers who I think deserve support, promotion, and attention.
Yet, this got me thinking about those who directly support my work through my irregular subscription based newsletter. Those people who I call “my patrons”. I suspected that many of them are writing or creating things that deserve such promotion.
Therefore, I put out a call to them all to see if there was something they were doing that they wanted me to share with my audience. Here is me, shining a light on those that responded:
Caesura Letters — James Shelly writes the Caesura Letters newsletter. It remains the first thing I read every day and the best thing I read most days. It’s almost become like a little morning devotional. Like, my first cup of coffee does not taste the same without it.
Writing Assignments — If you want to become a better writer, it takes practice. Randy Murray’s excellent book is some of the best practice you can get. Buy it.
Nic Lake — Nick is putting together an EP of instrumental/ambient music. You can check it out so far right now on on SoundCloud, Facebook, and Twitter.
Frictionless Freelancing is a book for anyone brave enough to pour time and energy into building their own business. Author Aaron Mahnke shares from his long history of building and growing a successful freelance design business to expose all of the secrets, lessons and tips that he’s figured out along the way. Whether you’ve been freelancing for years or are brand new to the challenge of running your own business, this book is an absolute essential resource. I wish I had it when I first started out.
Unretrofied — by Chris Gonzales is a blog about the intersection of technology and life. He recently activated a membership subscription program there, and hopes to take the site full-time someday. I signed up to show my support. You should too.
A Lesser Photographer — Written by CJ Chilvers, it helps you become a more creative photographer. CJ brings a refreshing honesty to the subject that applies to more than just photography. It’s been one of my favorites for a long time.
James Gowan — Tells stories about what’s happening as he attempts to swing the pendulum from “consuming” to “creating”. James is a real up-and-coming voice in this space and worth of your attention.
Studies in Semicolons. — This site explores technology and habits of effective work that we love so much and molds them specifically for people like the author, Chase Nordengren – academics, researchers or people who just like ideas and want to take on a life immersed in them as much as possible. I started following a few weeks back and have not regretted it.
Andrew Carroll — Andrew demystifies the complexities of running a business on his site. Andrew is very smart, sensible, and approachable.
The Hales — Simple, vocally-driven acoustic recordings. They are very literally trying to find their voices together doing something they love. Beautiful work.
Pipe Redirect — Basically your generic tech blog with links and articles, although the goal is to focus on the nerdier side of things (Unix, Python, AppleScript, etc.). Tony also tries to occasionally post some more thoughtful pieces on how our digital world impacts our lives.
Math Is Hard — A new podcast network featuring a podcast called Remakers Mark. Four best friends and film nerds discuss how they would remake our favorite movies today. Thus far they’ve discussed Ghostbusters and Top Gun, with each movie discussion split into two episodes; the first discussing casting, and the second discussing plot, filmmaking, and technology changes they would consider. Lots of fun.
December 31, 2012
Things I Learned In 2012
As this year draws to a close, here is a once again not nearly complete list of the the things I learned this past year:
That a pony is not another name for a foal but, in fact, a small breed of horse.
Abundance may seem more than enough, but it is only so when not doing enough with the abundance.
What dropping a ten pound weight from six feet high on one’s foot feels like and the effects there of. (Hurts like hell, two broken toes.)
That is is completely possible to make a (so far, very) modest income from writing. (Please buy my books because every little bit helps.)
I read way more books than I thought I did.
That it was mostly non-fiction. (OK, I kind of knew this.)
That I want to read more fiction in the future.
“Carrying coals to Newcastle” is a phrase that means to do something pointless and superfluous.
How to set ACL permissions in Mac OS X Lion Server. (Wish I wouldn’t have had to learn this because it is a pain in the ass.)
How easy it is to become numb to things that cause pain in our lives if the pain is not painful enough to address.
Convenience is a double edged sword because inconvenience can be such a very good motivator.
That true communities have sidewalks.
What a Stand Up Meeting is and it’s potential value outside of programing culture.
One of the best things you can say about a pen is that it is “pocketable”. Because a pen you can easily pocket is a pen you are likely to take with you every day and a pen that you take with you is a pen you will use.
A good pen is a promise to an empty page.
That, my best writing is done with pen and paper and that I plan on doing so more and more.
Paper is always on.
Paper is never passive.
That I really need to listen to the push back my inner voice gives me when it comes to committing to things outside of my comfort zone and skill set. (Some exceptions apply. Your actual milage may vary. Please drink responsibly.)
“You only need one good reason to commit to an idea, not four hundred. But if you have four hundred reasons to say yes and one reason to say no, the answer is probably no.” — Twyla Tharp in The Creative Habit
Why waste your CPU on something you are not committed to do?
John James Audubon, despite portraits you may have seen depicting him otherwise, was half-Black.
The quietest place on earth is just a few miles away.
The Re-captcha Project is used to help digitize books, newspapers, and radio shows. This makes me less annoyed that I often cant make out any of the words it wants me to type.
The biggest tech story of the year is always you.
That it is, in fact, possible to love my wife even more than I ever thought I could even as I think I could not possibly love her more.
Bonus prediction: That 2013 will be the year of opt-out. That disconnection will become hipster cool. More and more people will be replacing smart phones with dumb ones, digital with analog, social with solitude, sharing with journaling, etc.
December 30, 2012
Hadley’s Movie Club
Hadley’s Movie Club is an interesting new project from Sam Johnstone. He describes it like this:
Hadley’s Movie Club is a site I curate now on a casual, semi-frequent basis. It is just one page that shows you one movie. A movie that I’ve found, that I love, that I can show legally to the public. I wanted it to work like a free one-screen cinema. You show up, read the playbill and if you want to watch the movie, you can, and if you don’t you just leave and check back another day. No archive, no schedule, no� sign up. In a way, total freedom.
What a wonderful idea . If you are ever stumped for something to watch, here you go. Also, what a great way to highlight free, independent, filmmaking.
December 29, 2012
Outliner
I was asked recently on App.net, following a post of my new iPad mini home screen to Minimal Mac, about my use of OmniOutliner and outlining in general and tips, posts, or other resources to get started. Strangely, I was somewhat stumped by this question. Here’s why…
I think in outlines.
Some people think in mind-maps, some think in visuals and colors. I, think in the parent-child-sibling hierarchy. I have for as long as I remember.
If you we’re to look at any notes I have taken since grade school you would find that they were outlines. I remember learning what a proper outline was and the various styles and numbering schemes in some early high school class but I was working this way in practice (if not by official system) long before that.
When I purchased my first computer the first program I sought out to download was an outliner (mainly, so I could hide and reveal rows). For many classic Mac years I used and loved MORE, which still is the best outlining application ever created. I loved the outline mode in Notes.app on the Newton MessagePad. I’ve likely tried every outliner made for the Mac. Many years later, when I learned that the OmniGroup was going to build an outliner for OS X and that they were interested in building the best they could and integrating many MORE like features, I jumped at the chance to use early betas, provided feedback, and have been using OmniOutliner ever since.
So, what is the point of all of this? Not sure there is one.
Actually, maybe it is this paradox: Sometimes the hardest things to help others understand are the things that come so easily to us. Perhaps this is because we lack the ability to truly empathize in this area. We have never had to learn or struggle with the process. That maybe it is best not to learn from the master of a thing but, instead, seek the advice of a more advanced student.
December 28, 2012
By Hand
Our friends Peter and Sylvia stopped by briefly on Christmas Eve as we were preparing for our holiday celebration. They wanted to drop off our gift and Peter, being from Iowa City, was hoping to catch my Mom in some brief conversation as she spent a great deal of time there at various points throughout her life.
Peter is an interesting fellow. He is an architect by trade. Curious, intelligent, slightly pushy with an opinion but open to reason. That said, he is most likely to corner you in conversation at a dinner party and keep you from other engagements. But, at least, the trap will be one you will learn from.
But, to me, what makes Peter most interesting is his hobbies. He always has one. They always involve making something by hand. For a few years it was chairs. These chairs were beautifully crafted and were more like art than furniture. When he sold them they were priced more like art than a sitting utensil as well. Good for him.
His latest hobby is hats. These splendid felt hats. They look great on him. Well crafted, wide brimmed, and warm. Perfect in a light Minnesota snowfall. One could imagine him sitting on a cabin porch “up north” sipping from a handmade mug talking about the conversations of the birds. With that hat.
I recently ran into another acquaintance of ours. The father of one of the other girls at the Circus school Beatrix takes classes at. It was before Christmas and I asked how things were going. He responded honestly in saying they were pretty crazy and stressful. Not simply due to the nature of the season but because they made all of their presents. He explained that not only was it a fun idea and good family creative activity but it was a financial necessity. They were a one income family and simply could not afford to give what they wanted any other way.
I found this to be so cool that I have committed to do the same next year — in part at the least with a goal of in whole. And, if not in whole to commit to purchasing gifts that are hand made by others — preferably locally and direct from those that made them.
I’m really interested in this. Having a hobby where one makes things. Useful things. By hand. While I know it is almost a year away again, Christmas always seems to sneak up quickly. I better start making something soon. I have some ideas of things I’d like to try my hands at making.
December 27, 2012
Mostly Failure With Light Awesomeness
I’ve been toying with the idea of committing to daily posting on patrickrhone.com for one of my intentions for 2013. Believe it or not, this has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever considered doing. The reason: Fear of failure.
You see, I don’t know how guys like Seth Godin or Randy Murray do it. I don’t know how someone manages to post something great, insightful, inspiring, or otherwise interesting 5–7 days a week. My “muse” does not operate with that level of consistency. Theirs does (or at least seems to). I’m afraid that most of what I post won’t be good.
I’m also afraid that I’ll miss the mark. That by committing to a certain timeline that, on the first day I fail to meet that, I’ll feel incredibly guilty about it or, worse, wont feel that bad and allow myself to skip more. That, by doing so, I’m letting both myself and others down.
Then, there is the thought that I will have to post something long. That 250 words or a paragraph or a single sentence with a thought going through my brain would be met with ridicule or slight (more so of myself than others I’m sure).
Yet, ultimately, these are all excuses. These are the resistance trying to marginalize my art. This is The Fear waging war with The Work — and I’m letting Fear win.
But, ultimately, everything we do involves commitment and facing our fears. Every future moment is one full of unknowns and uncertainty. When we go to bed at night, there is no certainty we will awake. When we set our first foot on the floor the next morning, there is no guarantee the other will follow.
Therefore, the only thing I can do here is to face my fear head on. To allow myself to embrace the uncertainty and to tempt the failure. To embrace the possibility that most of it will be bad but that doing it is the only way to get better.
It starts right now.
December 20, 2012
Writing: Before Step One
Yesterday, I was standing in line in IKEA. Specifically, I was waiting to check out in the food store which is a store-within-a-store of the main store itself. I’m not sure if all of them are configured this way. This one is.
I had gone first to get gravy. The cream gravy. The same that they serve with the meatballs in the restaurant upstairs. It comes in a packet that you can mix with cream on the stove top at home. It is my favorite gravy and far better and easier than I could muster on my own.
We celebrate the holiday on Christmas Eve with a large dinner and present opening. As my wife’s family heritage is Norwegian, and they constitute the majority in attendance, we prepare a traditional Norwegian meal. The gravy for the meatballs, though Swedish, is very close to that served in Norway. Close enough for our liking.
I often wonder if I’m the only Black man in America making Lefse (traditional Norwegian potato flat bread) for Christmas.
In any case, I’m standing in the long line with my four items… Yep, four. IKEA is one of those places where you go in to get one thing and, well… Two packages of cream gravy, lingonberry sauce (I wasn’t sure if we had some already — better safe, than sorry), and some moose-shaped pasta my daughter likes. After about 20 minutes, I had only made it up to number three in line. The lady in front of me was clearly restless with the lack of speed. At the front of the line is an elderly lady, slowly taking each of her 20 or so items, one by one, from the cart. It really does look like she is caught in some TV sports-like instant replay. The lady in front of me turns around, looks at me, exasperated, and lets out a long sigh. She throws up her hands and says without saying “Can you believe this?!”
I shrug my shoulders and ask her, “What can we do?” I have a lot of patience for things like this. In fact, in many ways, I look forward to them. Stuck in a line with things I have to buy and no control over the time that it is taking. It is these times I’m forced to do nothing but appreciate the moment. To observe the details of a life that goes by too fast. Mostly because, if not for these forced breaks, we run through it without recognizing that it will be over sooner than we ever think.
What I wanted to tell this lady in front of me was that I was quite enjoying the elderly lady at the counter taking as much time as she needed. That, this waiting was the first break I had had in a very busy day. That, most importantly, it is times like these that, as a writer, I took the time to feed my writing the only nourishment it needs — observation. That she and the instant replay lady and the moose pasta, and cream gravy, and lingonberry sauce were going to end up in an essay written by America’s Only Black Christmas Lefse Maker and she should just shut up and enjoy the silence of waiting but that her doing that would make my story far less entertaining…
It reminded me of the grand opening of the first Trader Joe’s here in Minnesota. I’m a big fan and, before that store opened here, would make a point of stopping at their locations in other states when I traveled and stocked up on all of my favorite items that are only available there.
The place was a zoo. Crazy busy. My wife and I got the things we absolutely felt we needed and got into the long line to check out. The line moved very slowly. Unusually so. And when it was our turn we soon realized why…
The young lady checking us out was named Anastasia. If I had to guess, they flew her out from California to help with the grand opening — likely having rescued her from a SoCal commune where she was a member of a cult. She had long brown-blond hair, several ill considered tattoos, and piercings in places that were, um… interesting. Her blue eyes had that wake-n-bake glaze that I have not seen since my college bathroom mirror.
Anastasia was friendly enough. Too much so, in fact. As she slowly removed each item from our cart, she audibly pondered its greater purpose in the grand scheme of existence. She suggested all of the traditional and innovative ways such a pre-packaged and microwaveable food item might serve us. She then attempted to scan each item, several times. And, if she failed after a half-dozen attempts, just shrugged her shoulders and threw it in our bag and moved onto the next. She did this for each item. Every. One.
I seriously think it took almost a half hour to check out. If was comical. To this day, whenever my wife and I get an especially chatty or spacey clerk, we look at each other and say, in unison, “Anastasia!”
And here I was, in IKEA, alone. If I screamed “Anastasia!” there would be no one else there to understand…
Are you getting the point here? This is where writing begins. All of these experiences, stories, circumstances, details, and observations.
Your life is full of them. Write about your morning coffee. Write about your messy desk. There’s a hundred stories in every seemingly boring moment if you simply take the time to notice them. And all of those stories are connected to each other in beautiful ways. Each one by itself is an essay. Yet, find those woven threads and they just might make an interesting book. Even something as mundane as waiting in a checkout line is an opportunity to spin an interesting yarn or insightful tale (perhaps the title of this one might be Stuck! Stories Of Tuning In While Checking Out).
Live life. In there is all the stuff you need before step one.
December 17, 2012
I Don’t Know
I listen to the news. I read the reports. I do the research. I talk to my friends and family. I read the work of the experts. I study the laws and re-read the documents.
The truth is, I don’t know.
I don’t know why far too many people do far too many horrible things to far too many more people. I don’t know if there is anything we can do to change it. I don’t know if the answer is more laws or less. More access or less. More treatment or less. Anything. In fact, I don’t know if making any change at all will make the problem, any problem, worse or better.
I don’t think you do either. I don’t think any of us, outside of any issue, really can. Even within there is perspective at play. Heck, we don’t see the perfectly visible sometimes when it is in plain sight because we are blinded by the action and the assumptions of pre-conceptions, assumptions, and opinions.
Opinions are not answers.
I don’t think we can even begin to tackle a problem, especially a big one, unless we are ready to confess all that we don’t know. Because believing that we know the solution means we don’t look for real answers — only validation.
When we don’t know we are willing to try things. If those things don’t work we are then more willing to admit we were wrong and try something else. Creativity starts with a blank slate. All filled cups start empty.
I will likely struggle at times but I’m making a conscious effort, today and going forward, to make “I don’t know” my sensible default in any discussion.
We have some difficult problems to solve ahead of us. We always have. I don’t know how to solve them . You don’t either. So, lets discuss our ideas. Know that neither of us is going to get it completely right. Know that we all are going to have gains and sacrifices. Let’s be open to trying some things out with the knowledge that we both seek a working solution.
December 2, 2012
Book List 2012
Books I’ve Read In 2012
I generally keep all of the books I read during the course of the year together on the same shelf. Since, with very few exceptions, I mainly read non-fiction, it gives me a pretty good snapshot of some of what I have learned or been interested in during the course of a year.
I happened to glance at that shelf today and thought to myself, “That is a rather fine collection”.
I then took a look at both the Kindle and iBooks and thought, “Wow, an even finer collection of book still! I should list these somewhere.”
I then took a mental inventory of all of the books I have borrowed and returned and thought, “Holy cow I have read a lot of books!”
Here, in no particular order, are the books I have read in 2012 (and I may even be missing a few):
Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (P.S.) — Eric Brende
A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams — Michael Pollan
Seven Summits — Dick Bass, Frank Wells, Rick Ridgeway
Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age — Douglas Rushkoff, Leland Purvis
Anything You Want — Derek Sivers
Do the Work — Steven Pressfield
Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work — Steven Pressfield, Shawn Coyne
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking — Susan Cain
The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World — Marti Olsen Laney Psy.D
One Way Forward: The Outsider’s Guide to Fixing the Republic (Kindle Single) — Lawrence Lessig
The Flinch — Julien Smith (The one is free on the Kindle and worth your time)
Tales of the Revolution: True Stories of People who are Poking the Box and Making a Difference — Seth Godin (This one is free too)
Self-Reliance — Ralph Waldo Emerson (This is one I read regularly and this edition is a fine one)
The Hand of Andulain — Aaron Mahnke
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative — Austin Kleon
Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity — Hugh MacLeod
Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear — Hugh MacLeod
All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House — David Giffels
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware (Pragmatic Programmers) — Andy Hunt
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other — Sherry Turkle
Frictionless Freelancing — Aaron Mahnke
For the Win: Cory Doctorow: Amazon.com: Books
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains — Nicholas Carr
The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption —Clay A. Johnson
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