hear hear

From an article i read today in informationweek.com magazine:
(okay, so maybe i'm a geek, a little bit)

"One of the biggest challenges of Web2.0 is how to define and improve the user experience. The challenge is to amaze and delight users, give them what they want, and surprise them with stuff they didn't know they wanted."

So please, stop starting new photosharing communities!

just for me

my alarm is going off, omg, what is that noise?? i roll over, grab blindly for my blackberry and push a button, any button. it's 5:52am. i never set my alarm clock at a multiple of five, it gives me more time to snooze. slowly, my senses start to wake up, i moan and turn and curl up, no, don't ring yet, be silent, stay dark, let me sleep - "do-do-do-do-do-do-do bzzbzzbzzbzz" - damn the vibrate and ring mode. ten minutes have passed already. but it's 6:02 now isn't it? ha, i have four more minutes until 6:05. i am a genius.

but for two weeks now, i've been doing it - Monday through Friday. (i know that's not very long, but hey, i can barely do anything everyday for two whole weeks!) it's still dark outside, i stumble into the bathroom, brush my teeth, change, throw my work clothes in my bag, and don't forget the shoes so i'm not wearing flip flops with workclothes... and off i go. and you know what? i love it. driving to work after practice at 8am, i have plenty of time, i stop in at il fornaio for a 2% latte, one shot - just enough for the health benefits, but not so much that it'll shoot me to the moon. i shower at work and i'm at my desk by quarter to nine. perfect.

but most importantly? it's just for me. this insane routine of waking up before the sun has, getting in a room with 25+ other ppl much more dedicated and much more advanced than i am, completely shutting off my brain, shutting off the outside world, and focusing only on my body and my breath. (do i sound like a junkie yet? ;)

i spend much of my life doing things for other people, consciously or subconsciously. and don't get me wrong, i like most all the things i do, but rarely is it just for me. stanford - best decision of my life - but clearly not just for me. church, religion, piano, music - all building blocks of my life who make me who i am today, but much moreso for my mother. banking, venture, my career, my future - are these for me? perhaps, but i'm not so sure. where i will live, who i will share my life with, choices and more choices - all of those must take into account different people. losing weight, eating, i could go on and on. and like i said, there are parts of everything that i do enjoy and do for myself, but not just for myself. so i have always found little things to fill my life with, to in part create a hodgepodge of twinklings that are simply and sweetly to my fancy.

and yoga every morning? it is just that. two hours of my very own time, in which i'm focused, working, disciplined, and silent. and the reprieve, rush and accomplishment i feel afterwards. it's like buying an expensive handbag, finding a brilliant pair of shoes, exploring the streets of London, baking chocolate bread pudding and spiced cream from scratch, gingerbread lattes and pumpkin pie - but with none of the guilt, and so much more productivity and some pretty good health benefits. so let's see if it lasts. i really hope it does. but damn, am i tired by 10pm.

highway robbery

WARNING: THE ABOVE PRODUCT IS DECEPTIVELY EXPENSIVE. VIEW PRICE TAG BEFORE PURCHASE.

Or you will fall into the same mistake I did: going home with a $20.00 jar of fancy peanut butter, aka almond butter. Fine it tastes a lot better, and it's better for you, but not $15 better. I mean, hell, organic peanut butter is already damn expensive.

And let me tell you, I will savor every lick of it. And, no, I'm certainly not sharing.

;)

learning

i haven't been very busy at work recently, so i've been voraciously reading about yoga. iyengar, ashtanga, mysore,desikachar, paris, you name it. it's fascinating.

something i read today: "...for him the practice was about being at the wall. If you take away the wall, or spend your time trying to figure out how to remove the wall, you have completely missed the point. Maybe, maybe hopefully, this is about your mind, and soul, and something a little deeper than how to get your fingers to touch.....And things are meant to happen here, not over days, but over months. That’s what makes them lived and experienced, not told or spoken."

there's something possessive about ashtanga. it's bizarre.

austin

this post is a tribute to my baby brother. who is clearly no longer so little anymore. so i signed up for facebook, bc i was curious to see what the phenomenon really is. and the only person i really knew to invite, was, hmmm, my brother. so he accepts me and suddenly i have access to his profile. and his profile picture? look -->
i knew he'd been working out and taking all these weird protein supplements over the summer, but i didn't realize he was obsessed with his biceps. i mean, the guy is skinny. he has a leaner frame than i do, and is simply naturally thinner - he doesn't keep on weight, and muscle even less so. if only he studied as much as he worked out. but then again, if i studied as much as i did yoga these days, i'd probably get an 800.

now here is a picture of him from high school. note the backdrop - the ocean behind the cliffs, a palm tree in the front yard of his friend clay's house. he grew up with that, friends taking him to wailea every year, posh posh posh.... i only fell into that when i got older. it makes us a little different, in some ways. but he's the youngest, he's allowed to be spoiled and idealistic and clueless.
this last one is him and his best friend. he may look all grown up, but he's still the sweet little softy inside. just look at that smile.