On Saturday and Sunday of the past weekend, I spent about ten hours at Pacific Raceways, enjoying the annual the Pacific Northwest Historic Vintage Races put on by the folks at SOVREN. This was my seventh or eighth time at this event, and though the rain made Saturday particularly soggy, the skies cleared on Sunday and my father and I were able to spend the better part of the day at the track.
As a certified car nut, I've gone to my fair share of events like this over the years, from Formula 1 races to the amazing racing and concours weekend on the Monterey Peninsula. Every time, I return with a bag full of the spoils of the trip. There's usually a t-shirt, a cap, a book, or some other paraphernalia. Like many folks, I mark an occasion by buying my memories, somehow thinking that the ownership of a commemorative pin or other knick knack will sear the event into my mind.
But not this time. As I walked the pit area at the track, strolling past vendors plying me with all manner of goods, I made a conscious decision to keep on walking. Every time I felt myself about to open my wallet to get that one really-cool-I-just-gotta-have-it item, I paused, thought of the 100 Things commitment I made to myself, and moved on. "What," I thought to myself staring down at my hands, "would I get rid of to add this thing to my selected 100?"
It was, in all honesty, a pretty uncomfortable experience. Over the years, I've honed my buying habits into a precision instrument and breaking the pattern didn't come naturally. Like a smoker chewing gum to quit, I forced myself to focus on my photography throughout the weekend instead. I always bring my camera, but this time, I deliberately decided that the one thing I would take home was a Compact Flash card full of photos. It would be free, add nothing to my 100 Things, and provide more memories than some souvenir ever would.
Truth be told, I did come home with a poster and two hats. They were part of the VIP package that Debra and I won at a charity auction earlier this year and which paid our entry to the event. I suppose I could have declined when presented with them, but at the time, it seemed like it would come across as rude and disrespectful. As a result, I have on my kitchen counter two hats that will soon be given to my father and father-in-law; I know they will enjoy them. The poster? Well, it ended up in the recycling bin when I returned home.
In retrospect, the 100 Things commitment turned the weekend into something entirely different for me. I came away having experienced the races instead of buying them. My father and I had some great conversations and explored the paddock to find some special cars tucked away in the back. I worried less about someone scoring that one last cool team jersey before I could whip out my credit card and more about the event itself. I followed who was racing and whether I could scope out a cool vantage point for some good photos. It was subtle, but Sunday evening, I realized that my role in the experience had changed: unlike so many events in the past, I left the races as a spectator, not a consumer.
The article in Time Magazine appeared a month ago, but like most things in Time, the real action started much earlier. Dave Bruno began this now-almost-famous 100 Things Challenge months ago, as a test to reduce his own consumer footprint on the world. It is, more than anything, a novel way to place our role as a consumer front and center in our consciousness and -- perhaps because of economic conditions -- it has resonated with so many people.
Including myself. I've decided to set a goal of having just 100 Things by the end of the year. I've started my list and have begun to appreciate just how challenging -- and fulfilling -- this could be.
I have a few motivations for this. One is my children. They need at least one role model of restraint to counter the hundreds of others that encourage them to long for, buy and acquire. Another is a desire for simplicity. "You don't own your possessions; they own you," goes the refrain, and I could not agree more. Finally, I am intrigued to discover just how few things I need. When I have sold, broken or lost something in the past, I am always at first sad, but then quickly notice that the remorse is replaced by an easing of a burden. One less thing, one less thing to worry about. Can I manufacture this sentiment?
So, first, a few ground rules:
- The goal is to reduce my personal possessions to 100 things. Things I share with family are excluded. For now, at least; we'll see how this goes.
- In most cases, everything will be counted individually. There are a few exceptions, however, in regard to things I think of as "systems" or "sets." My set of wrenches, for example, is one item, rather than 17 individual things. It's imprecise, but the rule of thumb here is that if I can pick it up as one thing, it will be treated as one thing (my wrenches come in a case). Sure, I could throw 50 things in a box and consider it one item on my list, but that is hardly consistent with the spirit of the challenge. Another example might be "socks."
- Everything I decide to get rid of will be sold or given away if at all possible. The point here is not to generate more waste, after all.
In an upcoming post, I will share my current list. I'm still working on it.
One of my first discoveries is that inventorying all of your own personal possessions is an eye-opening experience. How in the world did I ever acquire so many backpacks and duffle bags? Why do I need so many screwdrivers? Why am I still keeping those ten Ethernet cables? How deep does the dust on an old pair of out-of-style shoes need to get before it's obvious they should be discarded? Stunning, really.
After toiling in obscurity for the past nine months, my new team has finally "gone public." Last summer, I left my gig in Product Planning after nearly six years to head up an Incubation team in Microsoft Office Labs. There are about 60 of us in "Labs," all focused on doing concept tests of interesting ideas focused on productivity.
Concept tests are just what they sound like: they're not quite "full blown" products, but are tools that are fleshed-out well enough for folks to use and experiment with. We hope to learn from each of these and incorporate the best ideas and learnings into our shipping products. We have a pipeline full of these and expect to make them available on officelabs.com on a regular basis.
The site went live today with a few of the team's first projects. One is an Office add-in called Search Commands that allows you to find features you need in Office using more common language and terms. We also shipped a web app called Community Clips, a collection of "how to" videos on Office that anyone can contribute to (the "community" can add its own "clips"...get it? Aren't we clever monkeys...).
So far, there's nothing directly from my team posted on the site. Yet.
My team is focused on building prototypes for mobile workers. We're specifically interested in concept-testing innovations around how the mobile phone can be an even more effective tool for folks who work away from their desk or don't even have a "desk" at all. This is area that is going through some incredibly huge and interesting changes right now as people demand to get their work done anytime, anywhere. We've got some cool things up our sleeves, but more on that later.
For now, check out the Office Labs website and try out some of the stuff we're building. We're very interested in your feedback. And if this sounds like a cool gig (it is), we're also hiring.
Absolutely stunning steel sculptures by Cal Lane as revealed in a New York Times article. The transformation of metal into gossamer is truly a sight to behold. More of her work here.
The best automtive writer on the planet, Jeremy Clarkson, reviews one of the cars I am eagerly anticipating seeing here in the US: the BMW 135i. A five star rating is a rarity from Clarkson, a classic pull-no-punches writer, and that's only making the wait harder. I've still got 10 months left on the Miata's lease, and with the dim, rainy season here now, the power of the little convertible to hold off my car lust is waning.
Binary Minded has released an add-in to my favorite utility, Quicksilver that integrates with my favorite task manager, Remember the Milk. Works like a charm, and saves a ton (a ton!) of time getting tasks into RTM. Merry Christmas to me!
2007 will go down for me as the year in which two products I was eagerly anticipating completely and utterly blew past the high expectations I had of them.
The first of those products is, of course, the iPhone. Much has been written about the industry-shaking design of this device, and now, with the year rapidly coming to a close, it's popping up on more and more "Best of 2007" lists.
Nearly 12 months ago, I sat there at the Moscone Center, slack-jawed, as Steve Jobs revealed a phone unlike any other. Six month later, holding my brand new iPhone in my hand, I couldn't help but marvel at the realization that, not only was it as good as the demos I'd seen months before, it was better. Much better. And while the hype around this thing was truly epic, it was completely deserved.
Today, I am finding myself again with the gleeful realization that yet another product I'd been watching closely may just be better than I ever thought it could be. This time, it's a car, namely, the new Nissan GT-R.
Three years ago, Nissan rolled out the GT-R concept at the Tokyo Motor Show. It was a strange-looking beast and I quickly forgot about it. The GT-R name is legendary in car aficionado circles as one of the most capable cars ever produced. It sold only in Japan, however, and never offered a partcularly fetching design, to say the least, and the new GT-R didn't seem to be heading down a different path at all. I filed it away in that portion of my brain devoted to useless automotive trivia and moved on.
Since then, Nissan announced that the GT-R would for the first time be available in the United States. And, with much credit to their marketing department, they began to trot out semi-disguised "prototypes" at tracks like the Nurburgring and events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. While most manufacturers shroud their cars in black vinyl and try to dodge the lenses of the automotive "spy photographers," Nissan seemed to revel in using them to get some web time for their car. By the time it was officially released in Tokyo this fall, the GT-R was a well-known commodity.
My interest grew over this time, too. As the spy photos were revealing more of the final design, I was drawn to its simple, angular forms. And when the performance specifications were finally shared, the technology was more than impressive. A twin-turbo V6, driving 473hp and 478 lb-ft. of torque through a paddle-shifting 6-speed to all four wheels. Advanced suspension, traction control, braking and steering. A unique LCD in the dash with a customizable interface designed by the computer game designers at XXXX. And on and on and on. Now Nissan had my attention.
But I also had my doubts. Too often, cars that look great on paper turn out to bring with them serious compromises. The Porsche 911 offers stellar performance and luxury, but the price of admission is north of $85,000. The Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06 outperform cars three times their price, but poor build quality and materials (not to mention the "gold chain factor") make them a risky proposition. The latest Evolution from Mitsubishi looks less like a boy racer, but is now porkier and slower than its predecessor and is likely to be a $40,000 car when properly optioned. And Subaru's new Impreza STi has been hit so hard with the ugly stick inside and out that even if it halted global warming and cost $1.99, I'm not sure I could bring myself to buy it.
And so, with my high expectations in tow, today along comes Edmunds' Inside Line with the first test figures for the GT-R: 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. 11.6 seconds and 120mph in the quarter mile. 72.9mph in the slalom, besting the $130,000 Porsche 911 Turbo and Corvette Z06. Base price? $70,000. Again, I am slack-jawed.
Might it just be that this iPhone of the automotive world, widely anticipated and hyped beyond all reason, is better than most thought it would be? Than it could be? It just might be so. Said Edmunds:
Perhaps more impressive than the Nissan GT-R's brain-cell-punishing acceleration or its stellar handling is its price. At just under $70,000 it's within reach of the upper middle-class enthusiast who insists on spending disproportionate amounts of his income on a car.
Plus, it will take an average driver and hurdle them into a realm of speed they couldn't buy with a 911 Turbo. It's world-class fast and relatively cheap. And that's a hard combination to beat.
The cynic in me just doesn't know what to do with these kinds of experiences. Years and years of unmet expectations, inflated promises and marketing spin have left me guarded and wary. When someone finally rises above the challenges of cost and design and corporate politics to produce something so fundamentally 'right,' I feel almost obligated to offer my support. I own an iPhone, of course. Now I need a piggy bank to start saving for my GT-R.
I know the dialogue from this film by heart, but it's nice to see a fresh interpretation.
Today I received the email at right from Porsche USA hocking some of their logo'd merchandise for Christmas. What caught my eye, however, was the scary subject line warning me about "Last minute" gift ideas.
Perhaps I am betraying my own time management techniques here, but since when does three weeks before Christmas constitute "last minute" shopping? This isn't the rant of a gift-buying procrastinator, either; in fact, I'm almost done getting all of my presents.
So what, then, represents true "last minute" shopping? I would suggest that any shopping done in December that takes place on a two-digit date starting with a "2" is truly cutting it close. In the interest of even more clearly capturing the spirit of giving represented by those who run it down to the wire, I suggest the following labels for those final five six days:
Dec. 20: "Last-minute Shopping"And buying something after Christmas for out-of-town friends and planning to blame the mail for the late delivery? It's wrong, just so, so wrong.
Dec. 21: "Time-daredevil shopping"
Dec. 22: "Over-confident-in-one's-ability-to-find-something-not-sucky shopping"
Dec. 23: "Dude,-you're-getting-a-gift-card Shopping"
Dec. 24: "You-obviously-don't-care-or-have-been-in-a-coma Shopping"
Dec. 25: "Where-did-you-get-that-thing-7-11? Shopping"
The first season of WKRP in Cincinnati is now available on iTunes!
"WKRP" was a staple of daily after-school life for me for many, many years. Johnny, Les, Herb and Venus were shown in a back-to-back 90 minute chunk, spread across two channels every afternoon from 4:00 to 5:30. The show didn't have the longest run (5 years), so I probably saw every show in the series seven or eight times. I knew all of the plot lines (who can forget the fantabulous turkey-helicopter show?) and had an arsenal of one-liners like so many of my friends ("As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly."). I also had a slightly unhealthy crush on Jan Smithers.
So good to see these old shows showing up in a new format. I may have to buy one episode just to see if it was as good as my memory thinks it was. I'm sure it's not.
Booger!
I wrote about my hard disk troubles in my last post, and it's not looking good. I spoke to an entirely unhelpful Apple tech at 1-800-MY-APPLE and also the tech support folks at Other World Computing and confirmed my worst fears: replacing the iMac's hard disk ether means I pay a bunch of money to have someone do it for me, or void my warranty by doing it myself. To rub salt into the wound, if I want Apple to do it, I cannot bring my own hard drive with me (BYOHD) and must purchase one from Apple and pay their usual high component prices.
This is not good.
I'll be calling the Apple Store later today to get a quote on having them do it. I'm also toying with a "Plan B" which involves selling our brand new iMac and replacing it with a Mac Pro. Anyone know when the new desktops will be announced?
I installed Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" on my Mac Book Pro this weekend. I've had little time to play with it, mind you, since the past two days were taken up preparing for and then celebrating my son's third birthday.
I seem to have hit a snag with my iMac Leopard upgrade, though. I bought a new 24-inch, 2.8Ghz iMac about a month ago, and spec'd it from Apple with a 500GB hard drive. I then proceeded to buy a 1TB Seagate disk drive from NewEgg, with the intention to upgrade the iMac when it came time to install Leopard.
I subscribe to an upgrade strategy much like John Gruber's, and I'd been dutifully cloning my iMac to an external drive with SuperDuper for a few weeks now. Yesterday, I ran it for what should have been the last time before doubling the internal storage on the Mac. When I logged into Apple's Support site to download instructions on upgrading the HD in a new iMac, however, I was surprised to find no technical articles available.
Turns out, the disk drive in an iMac is not user-upgradable without voiding the warranty. How I missed this when I bought the machine is beyond me, and frankly, I'm feeling kind of dumb for making this mistake.
My plan for today is to talk to a Genius at our local Apple Store and see what my options are. I really don't want to go without the protection of a warranty on a brand new computer, so I'm hoping I can have Apple install the drive for me.
I knew that going with an iMac meant I was giving up expandability, but I didn't quite realize that the only thing you could touch was the RAM (now maxxed out at 4GB). Maybe I should have bought a Mac Pro after all.
Technorati Tags:
apple, technology, mac os x
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A very interesting new rainwater storage system from Australia. A much larger and more discreet storage method than the old "rain barrel" approach.
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Until Apple offers HD programs on iTunes, this might be the only way to watch HDTV on the AppleTV. I use the eyeTV, but have only limited success with getting a good, artifact-free recording.
Okay, consider me in.
Everyone is talking about their 50mm lenses. I'm not sure if it's a rebellion against expensive glass, or the result of a sad realization that 90% of the stuff shot on DSLRs and 18-300mm zoom lenses and posted on Flickr is crap. Turns out good photography is hard. Go figure.
Suddenly, the "it" equipment to own is the basic 50mm 'normal' lens. It's light, it's fast, and by removing the ability to use the zoom to compose the image, everyone's forced to get off their ass and actually move to get the shot they want.
Well, halleluiah, I say (for the second time in a week, actually). And count me in.
Today I dusted off the wonderful Nikon 50mm f1.4 in my bag and put my current 17-55mm f2.8DX to rest for a while. Maybe I'm just trying to be part of the 'in' crowd, but we'll see how this goes.
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Very interesting development that uses traditional forms but somehow creates a modern aesthetic. Probably is the all-white pallette.
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First part of a tutorial on Aperture's image adjustments. This is a pretty complex set of controls, so any assistance is welcome.
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I love Dornbracht's fixtures. Simple, beautiful, incredibly expensive. Two out of three.
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Tips from top design blogs on getting your product, concept or idea featured on their site. Does not cover bribing and concubines.
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A very cool faucet from Bandini of the "waterfall" variety. I wish the surround around the handle were smooth, however. I find the embelleshment takes away from the simplicity of the design.
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Beautiful designer kitchens we can use in our remodel if we win the lottery.
Someone want to call John about his ad and ask if there is any rust?
Ian Rodgers, The Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo Music, speaking at the Digital Media Forum in LA on why Digital Rights Management is a failed experiment. A must-read coming at the same time Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead announce their split with the "traditional" record industry and a few scant weeks after Amazon's glorious DRM-free MP3 store goes live.
The writing is on the wall. DRMed music will be gone within a year and music sales will rise for the first time in ages.
