Radio

working for a company where everybody constantly talks about the importance of prints, I couldn't contain a smile when I read this quote (although from a fictional character)

here's another variation...incorporating some leftovers. I'm big on asparagus lately because I'm fighting a cold, and I read that they help. truth is: I just like them. mahalo Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

I enjoy cooking. don't even think about giving me a recipe though, I just follow my nose...and taste buds. Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

The heart is a muscle. Physiologically that’s a known fact. But It’s also true that in most cultures the heart is considered the center of our emotional sphere. Let’s look back at the first statement though, and build on that a little. We know a lot of things about muscles: if you stress a muscle too much it will hurt, potentially resulting in serious damage; a muscle’s ability to perform increases with regular exercise; without regular use they experience atrophy, temporary or irreversible depending on how long the inactivity lasts; using a muscle for the first time in a while will result in pain too, but that kind of pain is almost considered “good” pain, any sport enthusiast knows that it’s a sign of the muscles building up to the condition needed to perform. Although this list could go on, let’s stop here and look back at the other meaning of “Heart”, the emotional meaning. Does what we know about muscles apply to the heart as well? I would argue that in most cases it does. So...

Living in the States as a foreigner gives the opportunity for some interesting observations: it fascinates me to see how different certain behaviors, approaches and reactions are. Today I want to mention formulas. Americans live by formulas. For the outsider it’s mind blowing to notice how this applies to virtually anything, from complex work issues to interpersonal relationships. Formulas have a great strength: they simplify and frame a problem, making it easier to deal with it, sometimes removing the need to understand the problem entirely. At the same time, for the very reason that creates their strength (simplify), they remove or disregard parts of the situation. In an world where everybody, or most players (including the problem) play by the rules, this approach works pretty well. And the US, in many ways, are that world. The only danger is that the little bits left out by the simplification could pile up into a big issue, therefore although the process runs smoothly, and all ...

i am posting this speaking into a phone. not typing, speaking. i am not a huge technology fan but this is pretty amazing Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5

I heard this poem by Charles Bukowski on the radio yesterday, and even if I'm not a huge fan of his, something made me want to post this, so here it is: "My father always said, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house and we were up at dawn to the smell of coffee, frying bacon and scrambled eggs. my father followed this general routine for a lifetime and died young, broke, and, I think, not too wise. taking note, I rejected his advice and it became, for me, late to bed and late to rise. now, I'm not saying that I've conquered the world but I've avoided numberless early traffic jams, bypassed some common pitfalls and have met some strange, wonderful people one of whom was myself—someone my father never knew." what do you think? Mahalo

The other night I was hanging out with a friend, we were talking about plastic surgery (i know, this topic seems to be coming up a lot). I have a hard time understanding it, unless there's a serious condition that needs to be fixed, but I was happy to hear that she feels the same way, and I know that her husband (he's one of my best friends) couldn't care less for that stuff. After a while we concluded that, for our age (I'm 41, she's a little younger), we can't really complain about our bodies, we're in pretty good shape, we don't have to take any meds regularly, and our bodies still let us do most of what we love. I think that she joked saying: if they told me 20 years ago that I'd be in this shape now, I would have said "where do I sign up for that?". This got me thinking: I could probably say the same, and it applies to many different aspects of my life: I have a good job and a good salary (that I complain about, of course :)), I liv...

something interesting I found: a calendar concept where the carefully designed capillary action of special paper paces ink absorption, to show dates as they go by. Crafty and poetic at the same time. you can find the full story here: http://dvice.com/archives/2009/07/ink-calendar-re.php

I've been reading and watching speeches on how important it is to play. This, of course, is nothing new for most designer...I think we initially choose this profession because we intuitively see that it has something to do with PLAY, something we're not willing to give up. As it turns out, even a generally playful profession can find you in the middle of a "play dry spell", where it can feel like months, even years since last time you truly felt creative at play. This is something that should be avoided... creativity is a necessity for society, and play is the source of creativity. The interesting thing about these speeches is that they showed more reasons for play to be necessary, something explainable in more scientific terms than "it just doesn't feel right without it". I'm not gonna get into the details because it gets boring really fast, but basically with a scientific experiment it was shown that animals that were raised with inhibited play wer...

I went to the San Diego Pride Parade yesterday, and aside from the blistering heat it was good fun. In the overall joyful atmosphere, when I saw these guys I couldn't help wondering: what if we sent this kind of troops to Afghanistan? How different would things be? What if their exhuberant cheerfulness was so contagious that everybody forgets about war and starts dancing?       Mahalo

This is the title of a song by System of a Down, and unless you're into heavy handed (but beautifully crafted) crossover I don't recommend looking it up to hear what it sounds like, I just wanted to use the title. The reason why I like it is because it says "question" but it's not a question, it's an imperative. And I do that a lot (most people would say "way too much"),I question all the time, and it's easy to misinterpret the reasons that make me do it: people think I question to prove I'm right. I admit it, I am a little bit of a know-it-all at times (and by the way, almost everybody becomes one at some point) and I can easily see how one could reach that conclusion. I don't mind being wrong though, understanding why or how I'm wrong helps me grow and make fewer mistakes going forward. And trust me, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life...that's how I learnt almost anything I know. Therefore, going back to the "Questi...

Received these from 2 good friends, and I'm happy to share (assuming somebody's reading this) very interesting visualization too something good to learn

interesting (and entertaining) talk. I saw Sir Ken Robinson at a conference in 2007, one of the speakers that really stuck in my mind

-Edit: Last night, for the first time since I posted this, I read it again. It's awful, poorly written and boring. I don't know what I was thinking. I would delete it, but I'll leave it up as a reminder: the best thing about mistakes is that you can learn something from them- You have to be beautyful. To be happy. At all costs. This is one of the messages that is hammered daily into our heads, It triggers behaviours that sustain several multy million dollar industries. The thing is, I could almost agree with the core principle: the world, today's world in particular, needs more Beauty. Unforunately, Beauty is a concept that is difficult to frame, hard to measure, and challenging, at best, to manufacture. No need to worry though, because there are plenty of people out there that are making our life easier by breaking the code of Beauty, to give it back to us in simple formulas that will guarantee success (and by pure chance, can all be purchased, I guess we real...